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JOHN     BUNYAN 


AND 


THE    GIPSIES. 


BY 

JAMES    SIM  SON, 

■^ 
Editor  of 

"SIM son's    history    of    the    gipsies," 

and  Author  of 

"contributions   to   natural    history  and   papers   on  other    subjects";    "CHARLES 

WATERTON";    "THE  ENGLISH  UNIVERSITIES  AND  JOHN  BUNYAN";    "THE  SCOTTISH 

CHURCHES  AND   THE   GIPSIES";    AND    "REMINISCENCES  OF  CHILDHOOD 

AT   INVERKEITHING,    OR   LIFE   AT  A    LAZARETTO." 


"According  to  the  fair  play  of  the  world, 
Let  me  have  audience." — Shakspeare, 


NEW  YORK:    JAMES   MILLER. 

EDINBURGH  :    MACLACHLAN    &    STEWART. 

LONDON  :   BAILLIERE,  TYNDALL  !k  CO. 

1882. 

ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED. 


L- 


COPYRIGHT,    1SS2,    DY 

JAMES    SIMSON 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CAIJFORNIA 
SANTA   BARBARA 


PREFACE. 


Although  what  is  contained  in  the  following  pages  should  ex- 
plain itself,  a  few  prefatory  remarks  may  not  be  out  of  place.  In 
the  Scottish  Churches  and  the  Gipsies  I  said  that,  "  in  regard  to 
the  belief  about  the  destiny  of  the  Gipsies,"  "  almost  all  have 
joined  in  it,  as  something  established" — that  "the  Gipsies  'cease 
to  be  Gipsies '  by  conforming,  in  a  great  measure,  with  the  dress 
/and  habits  of  others,  and  keeping  silence  as  to  their  being  mem- 
bers of  the  race  ;"  and  that  "  in  bringing  forward  this  subject 
for  discussion  and  action  I  thus  find  the  way  barred  in  every 
direction."  Although  I  have  said  that  the  belief  about  the  dis- 
appearance, or  rather  the  extinction,  of  the  race  has  been  tacitly 
if  not  formally  maintained  by  almost  everyone,  "  no  one  seems 
inclined  to  give  a  reason  for  this  belief  in  regard  to  the  destiny  of 
the  Gipsies,  nor  an  intelligible  definition  of  the  word  Gipsy." 

This  is  the  position  in  which  the  Gipsy  problem  stands  to-day. 
The  latest  work  on  the  subject  which  I  have  seen  is  that  of  The 
Gipsies  (New  York,  1882),  by  Mr.  Leland,  so  fully  reviewed  in 
the  following  pages.  He  leaves  the  question,  in  its  most  im- 
portant meaning,  just  where  he  found  it ;  and  confesses  that  it 
has  "  puzzled  and  muddled"  him.  In  1874  I  wrote  in  Contribu- 
tions to  Natural  History,  etc.,  as  follows  : — 

"What  becomes  of  the  Gipsies  is  a  question  that  cannot  be  settled  by- 
reference  to  any  of  Mr.  Borrow's  writings,  although  these  contain  a  few  in- 
cidental remarks  that  throw  some  light  on  it  when  information  of  a  positive  and 
circumstantial  nature  is  added  "  (p.  120). 

In  offering  to  a  London  journal  the  double-article  on  Mr. 
Leland  on  the  Gipsies  I  said,  on  the  30th  May,  1882  : — 

"  I  admit  that  it  is  a  very  difficult  and  delicate  matter  for  a  journal  to  '  go 
back  on  '  a  position  once  taken  up  on  any  question  ;  but  I  think  that  if  you  admit 
the  intended  article  the  point  will  be  gained,  without  any  responsibility  on  the 
part  of  the  journal  or  editor  ;"  and  that  the  insertion  of  it  would  put  the  journal  "  in 
its  proper  position  before  the  world,  without  recanting  anything."  I  further 
wrote  that  "  Purely  literary  journals  must  necessarily  labour  under  great  dis- 
advantages when  called  on  to  notice  a  book  on  a  very  special  subject,  unless 
they  can  find  a  writer  who  can  do  it  for  them." 

If  all  that  has  been  written  on  the  Gipsies  "  ceasing  to  be 
Gipsies,"  under  any  circumstances,  "  be  allowed  to  go  uncon- 
tradicted, it  will  become  rooted  in  the  public  mind,  and  gather 
credit  as  time  goes   by,   making  it  daily  more  difficult  to  set  it 


4  PREFACE. 

aside,  and  allow  truth   to  take  its  place  " — as  I  wrote  in  reply  to 
two  fulsome  eulogies  on  Charles  Waterton. 

There  are  various  phenomena  connected  with  the  subject  of 
the  Gipsies;  not  the  least  striking  one  being  the  popular  impres- 
sion about  the  extinction  of  the  race  by  its  changing  its  habits, 
which  has  been  arrived  at  without  investigation  and  evidence, 
and  against  all  analogy  and  the  "  nature  of  things."  So  fully 
has  this  idea  taken  possession  of  the  public  mind  that  a  hearing 
on  the  true  position  of  the  question  can  scarcely  be  had.  One 
purpose  this  has  served,  that  it  has  saved  the  public  almost  every 
serious  thought  or  care  in  regard  to  its  duty  towards  the  race, 
and  relieved  it  of  every  ultimate  responsibility  connected  with  it. 
But  that  is  not  a  becoming  position  for  any  people  to  occupy — 
that  of  getting  rid  of  its  obligations  by  ignoring  them.  In  1871 
I  wrote  thus: — 

"  The  subject  of  the  Gipsies,  so  far  as  it  is  understood  ....  presents  little 
interest  to  the  world  if  it  means  only  a  certain  style  of  life  that  may  cease  at 
any  moment ;  in  which  case  it  would  be  deserving  of  little  notice." 

But  all  of  the  aspects  connected  with  the  popular  idea  of  a 
Gipsy  are  of  interest  and  importance  when  they  represent  the 
primitive  condition  of  a  people  who  sooner  or  later  pass  into 
a  more  or  less  settled  condition,  and  look  back  to  the  style  of  life 
of  their  ancestors.  In  this  respect  the  Gipsies  differ  from  most 
of  the  wild  races,  inasmuch  as  they  become  perpetuated,  especi- 
ally in  English-speaking  countries,  by  those  of  more  or  less  mixed 
blood.  In  regard  to  that  I  wrote  thus  in  the  Disquisition  on  the 
Gipsies : — 

"The  fact  of  these  Indians,  and  the  aboriginal  races  found  in  the  countries 
colonized  by  Europeans,  disappearing  so  rapidly,  prevents  our  regarding  them 
with  any  great  degree  of  interest.  This  circumstance  detracts  from  that  idea 
of  dignity  which  the  perpetuity  and  civilization  ot  their  race  would  inspire  in 
the  minds  of  otliers  "  (p.  446). 

If  the  "  ordinary  inhabitant  "  considers  for  a  moment  what  his 
feelings  are  for  everything  Gipsy,  so  far  as  he  understands  it,  he 
will  realize  in  some  degree  the  responding  feelings  of  the  Gipsies, 
whatever  their  positions  in  life.  These  create  two  currents  in 
society — the  native  and  the  Gipsy;  so  that  the  Gipsy  element  by 
marrying  with  the  Gipsy  element,  or  in  the  same  way  drawing  in 
and  assimilating  the  native  blood  with  it,  keeps  the  Gipsy  cur- 
rent in  full  flow,  and  distinct  from  the  other.  The  Gipsy  element, 
mixed  as  it  is  in  regard  to  blood,  never  having  been  acknowledged, 
necessarily  exists  incognito,  and  in  an  outcast  condition,  however 
painful  it  is  to  use  such  an  expression  towards  people  that  have 
lived  so  long  in  the  British  Isles,  and  are  frequently  of  un- 
questionable standing  in  society;  with  nothing,  in  many  instances, 
to  distinguish  them  outwardly  from  the  rest  of  the  population, 
but  possessing  signs  and  woids,  and  a  cast  of  mind  peculiar  to 
themselves,  that  is,  a  sense  of  tribe  and  a  soul  of  nationality, 
which  remain  with  their  descendants. 


PREFACE.  5 

This  subject  is  not  conventional,  but  will  doubtless  sooner  or 
later  become  such,  as  there  are  things  conventional  to-day  that 
were  not  such  lately.  In  that  respect  the  discussion  or  even  the 
sentiments  of  a  prominent  person  or  journal  can  make  a  thing 
conventional ;  such  is  the  nature  of  a  highly  complex  society 
anywhere.  With  reference  to  this  matter  I  wrote  to  the  journal 
alluded  to  in  the  following  terms : — 

"  Surely  the  strange  and  unfortunate  Gipsy  race  and  its  various  off-shoots 
have  not  sinned  beyond  the  forgiveness  of  the  rest  of  their  fellow-creatures,  so 
that  what  represents  a  relatively-large  body  of  British  subjects  cannot  be 
acknowledged  even  by  name  ;  leaving  to  others  to  look  upon  or  associate  with 
them  as  each  member  of  the  native  race  may  see  fit." 

One  would  naturally  think  that  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain 
would  at  least  take  some  little  interest  in  what  might  be  called 
their  "  coloured  population ;"  and  hold  in  respect  sovie  of  its 
members  who  could  doubtless  tell  us  much  that  is  interesting  on 
the  subject  of  the  Gipsies,  so  that  that  should  not  be  a  reproach 
to  them  which  would  be  a  credit  to  others.  To  do  so,  and  have 
the  people,  in  some  form  or  other,  acknowledged,  is  due  to  the 
spirits  of  research  and  philanthropy  that  characterize  this  age.  I 
admit  that  there  are  many  difficulties  attending  a  movement  of 
this  kind.  These  I  have  explained  fully  on  previous  occasions, 
and  I  need  not  repeat  them  here. 

In  regard  to  John  Bunyan  having  been  of  the  Gipsy  race,  I 
find  that  I  stated  the  question  in  Notes  and  Queries  on  the  12th 
December,  1857;  so  that  it  has  stood  over,  like  a  "case  in 
Chancery  "  under  the  old  system,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  un- 
attended to ! 

This  little  publication  is  intended  in  the  first  place  for  the 
British  Press,  although  I  cannot  be  expected  to  send  every 
journal  a  copy  of  it.  Each  publication  in  its  sphere  has  an  in- 
fluence, which  should  be  exercised  in  the  way  indicated  ;  for  here 
there  is  no  opening  for  the  display  of  those  passions  that  too 
frequently  enter  into  discussions  generally.  For  myself  person- 
ally (the  last  to  be  considered),  although  it  is  thirty-one  years 
since  I  left  Great  Britain,  I  should  still  have  some  rights  there; 
and  especially  among  high-toned  people,  who  should  remember 
that  one  of  the  ends  for  which  they  were  created  was  to  see 
justice  done  to  an  absent  person. 

New  York,  July  i,  1882. 


JOHN     BUNYAN. 

1  wo  LETTERS  TO  AN  ENGLISH  CLERGYMAN.* 


YOUR  letter  of  the  14th  April 
reached  me  after  some  delay. 
When  yon  wrote  it  I  presume  you 
had  not  given  your  fullest  considera- 
tion to  the  question  raised  by  you. 
For  when  John  Bunyan  said  that  his 
"  father's  house  was  of  that  rank 
that  is  meanest  and  most  despised 
of  all  the  families  in  the  land,"  and 
that  they  were  "  not  of  the  Israel- 
ites," that  is,  "  not  Jews,"  he  could 
not  possibly  have  meant  that  they 
were  what  are  generally  called  "  na- 
tives of  England."  Who  in  Bun- 
yan's  time  were  the  "  meanest  and 
most  despised  of  all  the  families  in 
the  land"?  No  one  can  doubt  that 
they  were  the  Gipsies,  who  were 
numerous  and  well  known  to  Bun- 
yan. Does  it  not  then  follow  that 
this  particular  Bunyan  family  were 
Gipsies,  in  whatever  ways  and  at 
whatever  times  its  blood  may  have 
got  nu'xed  with  native,  and  whatever 
its  social  development  ?  And  who 
then  living  in  England — when  Jews 
were  excluded  from  it — would  have 
taken  so  much  trouble  as  Bunyan 
did — that  is,  exhausted  every  means 
at  his  command  —  to  ascertain 
whether  their  family  were  Jews  but 
Gipsies?  This  Bunyan  did,  and  re- 
corded the  fact  of  his  having  done  it 
after  he  had  become  an  old  man.  Here 


*  These  two  letters,  dated  the  5th  and 
19th  of  May,  1S82,  were  in  answer  to  a 
short  one  from  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  acknowledging  the 
receipt  of  a  copy  of  my  Reininiscences  of 
Childhood,  etc.,  which  contained  an  Ap- 
pendix on  John  Bunyan  and  the  Gipsies. 


we  have  no  alternative  but  to  con- 
clude \}ci'3X  John  Bunyan's  family  were 
of  the  Gipsy  race ;  whatever  natives 
of  a  similar  surname  there  might 
have  been  in  the  county  or  neigh- 
bourhood before  the  Gipsies  arrived 
there.  It  is  even  possible  in  this 
case,  as  it  has  taken  place  in  others, 
that  a  native  family  had  been 
changed  into  a  Gipsy  dhe  by  the 
male  representative  of  it  marrying  a 
Gipsy,  but  not  necessarily  one  fol- 
lowing an  outdoor  life,  and  having 
the  issue  passed  into  the  Gipsy  tribe 
in  the  ordinary  way  of  society. 
There  is  neither  proof  to  show  nor 
reason  for  holding  that  John  Bun- 
yan's family,  in  the  face  of  what  he 
told  us,  were  not  Gipsies,  but  of  the 
ordinary  race  of  Englishmen ;  for 
which  reason  I  think  that  an  honour- 
able minded  man  should  not  main- 
tain it,  nor  allow  it  to  be  asserted  in 
his  presence. 

You  say  that  the  "rank"  Bunyan 
spoke  of  was  "  the  rank  of  tinkers, 
not  the  race  of  Gipsies."  But 
tinkering  was  his  calling,  while  the 
word  rank  was  only  aj^plicable  to 
"his  father's  house,"  who' probably 
did  not  all  follow  tinkerinsr  for  a  liv- 
ing.  I  do  not  think  that  Bunyan  used 
the  word  tinker  anywhere  in  his 
writings  ;  the  only  allusion  to  it  ap- 
parently being  at  the  scene  before 
Justice  Hale,  when  his  wife  said, 
"  Yes,  and  because  he  is  a  tinker, 
and  a  poor  man,  therefore  he  is  de- 
spised and  cannot  have  justice."  In 
my  Disquisition  on  the  Gipsies  and 
elsewhere  I  attached  weight  to  the 


8 


JOHN  BUN  VAN. 


fact  of  Bunyan  having  been  a  tinker, 
as  illustrative  and  confirmatory  proof 
of  his  having  been  a  Ciipsy,  wlien  the 
name  of  Gipsy  was  so  severely  i)io- 
scribed  by  law  ;  in  consequence  of 
which  the  Gipsies  would  call  them- 
selves tinkers,  to  evade  the  legal  and 
social  responsibility.  At  the  present 
day  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain who  English  tinkers  are  or  were 
originally.  Tiiey  will  all  deny  that 
they  are  or  were  ever  related  to  the 
Gipsies;  and  the  Gipsies  proper 
will  do  the  same.  I  attach  no 
weight  to  the  loose  assertions  either 
way  made  by  people  promiscuously, 
who  know  little  or  nothir^g  of  the 
subject,  or  merely  have  a  theory  to 
maintain.  All  this  I  have  already 
very  fully  put  in  print. 

In  your  letter  is  a  i>hrase  that 
sounds  a  little  unpleasantly  to  my 
ear.  You  say,  "  However,  whatever 
may  have  been  IJunyan's  pedigree, 
he  merits  honour  as  a  man  ;"  which 
seems  to  imjjly  that  his  memory 
would  have  been  disgraced  if  he  had 
been  of  the  Gipsy  race.  'Why 
should  that  have  been  a  disjiarage- 
ment  ?  This  is  the  entire  question 
at  issue.  How  could  we  have  ex- 
pected 15unyan  to  have  said  jilamly 
that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Gipsy 
race  in  the  face  of  the  legal  and 
social  res])onsibility  attaching  to  the 
name,  as  1  have  illustrated  at  great 
length  on  various  occasions  ? 

1  may  exaggerate  the  feeling  in 
question  when  I  say  that  no  publi- 
cation will  admit  the  subject  into  its 
columns,  nor  any  one  allude  to  it 
publicly,  or  even  privately,  without 
something  like  losing  social  caste. 
As  a  consecpience,  no  member  of 
the  race  that  can  help  it  will  own  the 
blood  unless  he  wants  it  to  be  known 
for  his  benefit.  The  rest  of  it,  in  its 
various  Mixtures  of  blood,  charac- 
ters, and  i^ositions  in  life,  are  born 
and  live  and  die  incognito  so  far  as 
the  rest  of  the  world  are  concerned. 
This  is  a  state  of  things  that  should 
not  exist  in  P^igland  ;  but  there 
seems   no  remedy  fur  it   unless  the 


question  can  meet  with  discussion, 
and  be  taken  up  by  persons  of  in- 
fluence in  whom  the  i)ubhc  has  con- 
fidence. As  I  have  said  on  another 
occasion,  ''The  question  at  issue  is 
really  not  one  of  evidence,  but  of 
an  unfortunate  feeling  of  caste," 
that  bars  the  way  against  all  investi- 
gation and  proof.  John  Ikmyan's 
nationality  forms  only  a  pnrt  of  the 
subject  of  the  "■  Social  Emancipation 
of  the  Gipsies,"  but  a  very  imi)ort- 
ant  part  of  it  ;  but  all  that  might  be 
said  of  it  has  no  meaning  to  such  as, 
looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  the 
left,  will  listen  to  no  representation 
of  any  kind  of  Gipsy  but  such  as 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  see 
in  the  open  air  in  England. 

It  would  be  uncandid  on  my  part 
if  I  refrained  from  sa)ing  that  l5ed- 
ford  and  its  peojjle  have  been  cited 
before  the  bar  of  the  world  to  show 
reason  why  John  Bunyan  should  not 
be  admitted  to  have  been  "  the  first 
(that  is  known  to  the  wot  Id)  of  emi- 
nent Gipsies,  the  jjrince  of  alltgor- 
ists,  and  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  men  and  Christians."  They  have 
an  opportunity  of  receiving,  first  or 
last,  the  illustrious  pilgiim,  not  as 
the  jirogeny  of  (as  some  have 
thought)  native  English  vagabonds, 
but  as  a  Great  Original  in  whatever 
light  he  might  be  looked  at. 

In  opposition  to  this  view  of  the 
great  dreamer,  we  have  the  ferocious 
prejudice  of  caste  against  the  name 
of  Gipsy,  that  leads  a  person  to  feel, 
if  not  to  say,  "  May  I  lose  my  light 
hand  and  may  1  be  struck  dumb  if  I 
admit  that  he  was  one  of  the  race." 
To  him  the  subject  of  the  Gipsies,  in 
the  development  of  the  race  from 
the  tent  upwards,  and  in  its  com- 
plex ramifications  through  society, 
lias  no  interest.  To  comprehend  it 
might  even  be  beyond  his  capacity. 
To  have  it  investigated  and  under- 
stood, and  the  peo|)le  acknowledged, 
if  it  implied  that  John  Hunyan  was 
to  be  included  as  one  of  them,  is 
what  he  will  never  countenance  ;  on 
which   account  his  wish   is  that  the 


JOHN  BUNYAN. 


subject    may   remain    in    perpetual  | 
darkness.       Proof    is    not    what    he ; 
wants,  nor  will  he  say  what  it  should 
consist  of.     As  regards  John  Bunyan 
personally,    we   have  never  had   an 
explanation  of  what  he   told   us  he 
and    his    father's    family   were    and 
were   not  ;    but   we   may  yet   see  it 
treated  with  fanciful  interpretations 
and    comments.     Then  it  has  been 
said  at  random   that  he  was  "  not  a 
Gipsy,  but   a    tinker,"   without  con- 
sidering who  the  tinkers  really  were, 
and  forgetting  that  a  i^erson  could 
have    been    both    a    tinker   and    a 
Gipsy ;     tinkering    having    been  the 
Gipsy's  representative  calling.   Then 
we  have  the  assertion  that  he  could 
not  have  been  a   Gipsy   because  of 
his  fairish  appearance,   and  because 
his  surname  existed  in  England  be- 
fore   the    race    arrived    in    it ;    and 
consequently  that  no  one  having  a 
fairish    appearance    and    bearing    a 
British  name  can  or  could  have  been 
a    Gipsy !     Then    we    are   told    that 
people  following,  more  or   less,  the 
established  ways  of  English  life  dur- 
ing   I20    years    before    the    birth  of 
Bunyan    could    not    possibly    have 
been    related   in    any    way    to    the 
Gipsies  I     And  finally,  certificates  of 
marriages,  births  and  deaths  of  peo- 
ple   bearing    British    names,     taken 


from  a  parish  register,  settle  the 
question  that  i)eoi)le  bearing  them 
were  not  and  could  not  have  been 
others  than  ordinary  natives  of  the 
British  Isles,  in  no  way  related  to 
the  Gipsies  !  In  that  respect  I  wrote 
in  the  Appendix  to  the  ReminisceJices 
as  follows  : — 

"  The  whole  trouble  or  mystery  in 
regard  to  Bunyan  is  solved  by  the  sim- 
ple idea  of  a  Gipsy  family  settling  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  native  families  of 
influence,  whose  surname  they  assumed, 
and  making  Elstow  their  headquarters 
or  residence,  as  was  the  uniiorm  cus- 
tom of  the  tribe  all  over  Great  Britain. 
This  circumstance  makes  it  a  difficult 
matter,  in  some  instances,  to  distin- 
gTjish,  by  the  Christian  and  surnames 
in  county  parish  registers,  '  which  was 
which,'  so  far  back  as  the  early  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century  "  (p.  82). 

The  pamphlet  addressed  to  the 
"  University  Men  of  England  "  ex- 
plains itself.  I  think  that  ministers 
of  the  Church  of  England  should 
do  more  for  the  subject  of  the 
Gipsies,  in  the  light  in  which  1  have 
presented  it,  than  could  be  exj^ected 
from  those  of  other  denominations. 

With  the  hope  that  I  have  written 
nothing  that  can  be  considered  in 
any  way  personally  offensive,  I  re- 
main, etc. 


II. 


In  regard  to  what  might  be  called  ' 
the  "nationality"  of  John  Banyan 
I  said,  in  my  letter  of  the  5th  May, 
that  "  the  question  at  issue  is  really 
not  one  of  evidence,  but  of  an  un- 
fortunate feeling  of  caste  that  bars 
the  way  against  all  mvestigation  and 
proof."  1  do  not  know  what  the 
congregation  of  Bunyan's  Church  at 
Bedford  consists  of,  but  I  presume  it 
is  composed  of  humble  people,  en- 
gaged in  making  a  living  and  bring- 
ing up  their  children  becomingly, 
and  indulging  in  the  simple  conven- 
tionalities suitable   to  their  positions 


in  life.  To  ask  them  even  to  enter- 
tain the  question  whether  the  great 
dreamer  was  of  the  Gipsy  race  would 
apparently  horrify  them  in  their  sim- 
plicity ;  and  it  might  be  useless  to 
attempt  to  explain  matters  so  as  to 
"convert"  them  to  a  belief  in  it. 
Proof  is  perhaps  not  what  such  j^eo- 
ple  want,  nor  wouhl  they  all  be  likely 
to  be  able  to  say  what  it  should  con- 
sist of,  or  to  appreciate  it  if  it  was 
laid  before  them.  It  is  from  no  lack 
of  charity  or  politeness  on  my  part 
that  I  say  this,  and  that  I  would 
attach  little  weight  to  what  they  might 


lO 


JOHN  BUNYAN. 


say  were  they  to  assert  that  it  is  only 
proof  they  require  to  satisfy  them 
that  John  Bunyan  was  of  the  Gij^sy 
race  ;  or  that  the  fact  of  it  has  not 
been  proved.  He  was  either  of  the 
Gi|)sy  race,  of  mixed  blood,  or  of  the 
ordinary  English  one.  What  proof 
is  tliere  that  he  was  of  the  latter  one  ? 
If  there  is  no  proof  of  his  having  been 
of  the  ordinary  English  race,  why 
assert  it,  and  deny  that  he  was  of  the 
Gipsy  one,  and  refuse  to  investigate 
the  meaning  of  what  he  said  himself 
and  people  were  and  were  not,  which, 
if  language  has  any  meaning,  clearly 
showed  that  he  was  of  the  Gii)sy 
race  ?  \Vhy  assume,  without  inves- 
tigation, that  he  was  not  that,  but  of 
the  ordinary  English  race,  even  in 
the  face  of  his  calling  having  been 
that  of  a  tinker? 

If  the  congregation  of  Bunyan's 
church  and  the  i)eople  living  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  it  have  a  difficulty 
in  judging  of  evidence  in  a  matter 
like  this,  they  can  have  none  in  ex- 
plaining, in  a  general  or  more  or  less 
crude  way  at  least,  their  feelings  of 
antipathy  to  the  idea  of  the  illustrious 
pilgrim  having  been  of  the  Gipsy 
race  ;  and  drawing  the  logical  con- 
clusion that  he  was  not  likely  to  have 
said  i)lainly  that  he  was  one  of  it,  in 
the  face  of  the  storm  of  indignation 
that  seems  to  be  entertained  to-day  ; 
an  indignation  which  is  so  great  that 
it  has  not  yet  found  expression. 

If  some  highly  educated  men  have 
missed  the  hinge  on  wliich  the  Gipsy 
question  turns — that  the  race  perpet- 
uates itself  in  a  settled  condition,  ir- 
respective of  character  and  other  cir- 
cumstances— and  have  had  a  difficulty 
in  realizing  it  in  all  its  bearings,  we 
can  easily  excuse  the  congregation  of 
liunyan's  church  for  holding  views 
similar  to  those  of  the  community  at 
large,  on  a  subject  that  is  more  or 
less  complex  in  its  nature.  But  they 
can  never  expect  to  do  justice  to  it 
unless  they  approach  it  witii  every 
desire  to  do  what  is  i)roper,  and  not 
with  the  rooted  aversion  with  which 


it  has  hitherto  been  regarded.  What 
Bunyan  told  us  of  himself  and  family 
he  said  was  "  well  known  to  many"  ; 
and  he  seems  to  have  assumed  that 
it  was,  or  would  have  been,  under- 
stood by  the  world.  I  have  even  sug- 
gested that  he  had  been  more  precise 
with  some  of  his  friends,  who  might 
(as  they  very  probably  would)  have 
suppressed  what  he  told  them  in  re- 
gard to  the  nationality  of  himself  and 
his  "  fixther's  house."  If  he  had  pub- 
licly said  plainly  that  he  was  of  the 
Gipsy  race,  that  would  have  been  a 
fact,  which  required  no  proof.  But 
there  was  no  necessity  or  occasion 
for  him  to  have  said  what  he  did. 

It  appeals  to  every  princii)le  of  fair 
play  and  abstract  reason  that  a  race 
that  has  been  in  Great  Britain  for  375 
years  must  be  considered  in  many  re- 
spects British,  whatever  its  origin,  or 
whatever  the  habits  of  some  of  it  may 
be.  It  would  be  very  wrong  to  show 
and  perpetuate  a  prejudice  against 
the  name,  or  blood  as  such,  however 
little  or  however  much  there  may  be 
of  it  in  the  person  possessing  and 
claiming  it.  Everything  else  being 
equal,  such  a  man,  instead  of  having 
a  i")rejudice  entertained  for  him,  is 
entitled  to  a  greater  respect  than 
should  be  shown  to  another  who 
labours  under  no  such  prejudice  in 
regard  to  his  blood.  Apply  this  prin- 
ciple to  Bunyan  and  he  will  stand 
higher  than  he  has  done.  He  was 
evidently  a  man  that  was  "  chosen  of 
God  "  to  shine  brilliantly  among  the 
children  of  a  common  parent ;  and  it 
becomes  all  of  us  to  acknowledge 
him.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  con- 
gregation of  the  church  of  which  he 
was  the  honoured  j)astorwill  approach 
this  subject  at  least  with  wariness, 
and  not,  against  all  evidence,  reject 
him  who  was  a  divine  instrument  for 
the  benefit  of  humanity,  in  its  highest 
concernment;  merely  because  he  was 
a  member  of  a  particular  "  family  in 
the  land,"  which  has  never  yet  been 
acknowledged  in  any  shape  or  form, 
however  numerous  it  is. 


MR.   LELAND    ON    THE    GIPSIES.* 


THE  History  of  the  Gipsies,  by 
Walter  Siiuson,  which  1  edited 
and  published  in  1865,  was  ready  for 
the  press  in  1858.  In  a  prefatory 
note  to  it  I  said : — 

"  In  the  present  work  the  race  has 
been  treated  of  so  fully  and  elaborately, 
in  all  its  aspects,  as  in  a  great  measure 
to  fill  and  satisfy  the  mind,  instead  of 
being,  as  heretofore,  little  better  than 
a  myth  to  the  understanding  of  the 
most  intelligent  person." 

In  1872  Mr.  Leland  published  his 
work  on  The  English  Gipsies  and 
their  Language,  in  which  no  refer- 
ence was  made  to  mine,  [that  is,  my 
part  of  it].t 

In  1874  he  wrote,  for  Johnson's 
Cyclopcedia,  an  article  on  the  Gipsies, 
in  which  he  made  use  of  the  History 
. ■ — - — ft- 

*  The  text  represents  the  article  as 
originally  written. 

f  I  endeavoured,  unsuccessfully,  to 
get  another  reading  of  this  book  before 
saying  that  "no  reference  was  made  in 
it  to  mine."  I  alluded,  from  memory, 
to  my  part  of  it.  On  examination  I  find 
that  the  only  indirect  reference  to  it  is 
the  following  : — "  Mr.  Simson,  in  his 
History  of  the  Gipsies  [that  is,  in  the 
Disquisition  on  the  Gipsies\  asserts  that 
there  is  not  a  tinker  or  scissors-grinder 
in  Great  Britain  that  cannot  talk  this 
language  ;  and  my  own  experience 
agrees  with  his  declaration,  to  this  ex- 
tent— that  they  all  have  some  knowledge 
of  it,  or  claim  to  have  it,  however  slight 
it  may  be,"  (p.  4).  I  did  not  express 
myself  so  absolutely  as  represented  by 
Mr.  Leland,  who  did  not  see  fit  to  men- 
tion the  double  authorship  of  the  book  ; 
the  subject  of  which  I  took  up  from 
where  it  was  left  by  Walter  Simson. 
This  double  authorship  may  prove  a 
little  confusing  to  the  reader  when  the 
book  is  alluded  to. 


proper  to  illustrate  the  race  in  Scot 
land,  and  my  addition  (which  made 
about  half  of  the  book)  exclusively 
to  illustrate  it  in  America,  and  giv- 
ing my  words.  It  did  not  appear 
from  this  article  that  he  had  any 
personal  knowledge  of  the  subject,^ 
excepting  that  he  said  that  he  knew 
of  one  Gipsy  who  had  travelled  from 
Canada  to  Texas,  as  confirmatory  of 
what  I  had  written  ;  and  asserted  that 
"  there  is  probably  not  one  theatre  or 
circus  in  England  or  America  in 
which  there  are  not  one  or  more 
performers  of  more  or  less  mixed 
Gipsy  blood."  The  only  other  re- 
mark he  made  of  that  nature  was 
the  following  : — "  The  reader  who 
will  devote  a  very  few  weeks  to 
either  Dr.  B.  Smart's  Vocabulary,  to 
G.  Borrow' s  Romano  Lava  Lil,  or  G. 
C.  Leland's  English  Gipsies  (Lon- 
don, 1872),  can  speak  the  language 
better  than  most  English  or  Ameri- 
can Gipsies."  In  other  words,  that 
any  person  with  tact  and  a  turn  to 
pick  up,  remember  and  use  Gipsy 
words  could  do  just  what  he  had 
done ;  and  by  going  over  the  same 
ground  produce,  in  a  varied  form  as 
regards  circumstances,  scenes  de- 
scribed by  others.  It  is  exceedingly 
probable  that  the  work  edited  and 
published  by  me  specially  stimulated 
•Mr.  Leland  to  take  up  the  subject 
so  fully  treated  in  it. 

In  his  book  entitled  The  Gipsies 
(New  York,  18S2),  Mr.  Leland  com- 
plains of  "a  reviewer"  saying  of 
his  English  Gipsies  and  their  Lati- 
guage  that  it  "  had  added  nothing  to 
our   knowledge    on    the    subject;" 

%  See  second  note  at  page  19. 


12 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


which  was  morally  if  not  literally 
true,  that  on  the  language  excepted, 
which  was  mainly  an  illustration  and 
continuation  of  the  collections  of 
others,  acquired  with  great  labour. 
He  has  made  several  allusions  to  my 
work,  without  indicalmg  it,  such  as 
frequently  using  the  word  "  Gipsy- 
dom,"  although  that  might  have  been 
done  by  any  one  ;  which  could  not 
have  been  said  of  "the  old  thing" 
(p.  274),  which  I  used  on  several 
occasions  to  describe  a  settled  Gipsy 
visiting  a  Gipsy  teot,  to  view  the 
style  of  life  of  his  primitive  ancestor. 
He  has  also  made  unfair  allusion  to 
the  "  mixed  multitude  "  of  the  Exo- 
dus as  being  the  origin  of  the 
Gipsies,  (p.  89) ;  and  to  the  subject 
of  the  Scottish  Tinklers  or  Gipsies, 
(P-  37  ^)'  ^'^'^  ^'^^^  Gipsies  he  says, 
"  No  one  will  accuse  me  of  wide 
discussion  or  padding,"  (p.  84). 
That  is  obvious  to  any  one,  for  al- 
most every  chapter  contains  an  in- 
tolerable amount  of  extraneous  mat- 
ter or  padding,  that  has  no  reference 
to  the  title  j'age  or  headings  of  the 
chapters.  In  some  parts  of  the 
book  there  are  several  pages  at  a 
stretch — once  as  much  as  seven 
pages — of  such  extraneous  matter  ; 
and  it  would  be  interesting  to  make 
an  analysis  of  it,  line  by  line,  to  as- 
certain the  i)roportion  of  the  two 
kinds  of  matter. 

But  what  I  wish  more  jiarticularly 
to  allude  to  is  iMr.  Leland's  dis- 
covery that  the  Gipsies  are  a  tribe 
from  India  that  are  known  there  un- 
der the  name  of  "  Syrians,"  and 
therefore  not  originally  na'tives  of 
India  ;  which  latter  conclusion,  how- 
ever, he  does  not  admit,  but  ac- 
counts for  the  phenomenon  in  this 
way  : — "  I  offer  as  an  hypothesis 
that  bands  of  Gipsies  who  roamed 
from  India  to  Syria  have,  after  re- 
turning, been  called  Trablus  or 
Syrians,  just  as  1  have  known  Ger- 
mans after  returning  from  the  father- 
land to  Ameiica  to  be  called  Ameri- 
cans" (p.  338).  That  is,  a  family 
or   company   of  Indian    nomads   re- 


turning from  a  visit  to  Syria  would 
afterwards  be  called,  and  cause  the 
whole  of  the  race  who  never  left 
India  to  be  called,  Syrians  for  ever  1 
Again  he  says; — "It  will  probably 
be  found  that  they  are  Hindoos 
who  have  roamed  from  India  to 
Syria  and  back  again,  here  and 
there,  until  they  are  regarded  as 
foreigners  in  both  countries"  (  !  ). 
The  allusion  to  Germans  in  i'lustra- 
tion  is  not  merely  inapplicable,  but 
unintelligible.  Of  the  "Syrians"  in 
India  Mr.  Leland  writes  : — "  Whether 
they  have  or  had  any  connection 
with  the  migration  to  the  West  we 
cannot  establish "  (p.  339).  For 
this  reason  he  should  not  have 
identiiied  them  with  the  Gipsies  out 
of  India.  "  Their  language  and 
their  name  would  seem  to  indicate 
it ;  but  then  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  word  roin,  like  dom,  is 
one  of  wide  dissemination,  diim 
being  a  Syrian  Gipsy  word  for 
the  race"  (p.  339);  and  "among 
the  Copts  ....  the  word  for  man 
is  romi"  (p.  20).*  "  Among  llie 
hundred  and  fifty  wandering  tribes 
of  India  and  Persia  ....  it  is  of 
course  difficult  to  identify  the  exact 
origin  of  the  European  Gipsy" 
(p.  18).  For  that  reason  he  should 
not  have  written  so  i>ositively  that 
he  had  "definitely  determined  the 
existence  in  India  of  a  peculiar  tribe 
of  Gipsies  who  are/ar  eminence  the 

*  In  T/ie  English  Gipsies,  etc.,  Mr. 
Leland  writes  :  —  "I  asked  a  Copt  scribe 
if  he  were  Muslim,  and  he  replied,  '  Z^, 
ana  Gipti  '  ('  No,  I  am  a  Copt ')  pronounc- 
ing the  word  Gip/i,  or  Copt,  so  that  it 
might  readily  be  taken  for  '  Gipsy.'  And 
learning  that  ro>//i  is  the  Coptic  for  a 
man,  I  was  again  startled  ;  and  when  I 
found  ief/ia  (tern,  land)  and  other  Ro- 
many words  in  ancient  Egyptian  (vii/e 
Brugsch.  Gramniaire,  etc.)  it  seemed  as  if 
there  were  still  many  mysteries  to  solve 
ia  this  strange  language."  Of  some 
Egyptian  Gipsies  Mr.  Leland  says  that 
"they  all  resembled  the  one  whom  I 
have  described They  all  dif- 
fered slightly,  as  I  thought,  from  the 
ordinary  Egyptians  in  their  appearance  " 
(p.  193)- 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


13 


Romanys  of  the  East,  and  whose 
language  is  there  what  it  is  in  Eng- 
land, the  same  in  vocabulary  and 
the  chief  slang  of  the  roads.  This 
I  claim  as  a  discovery,  having 
learned  it  from  a  Hindoo  who  had 
been  himself  a  Gipsy  in  his  native 
land"  (Pref  iv.).  He  describes 
them  as  "  thieves,  fortune-tellers  and 
vagrants"  (p.  339),  yet  his  inform- 
ant, John  Nano,  said  he  was,  or  had 
been,  one  of  them ;  which  would 
imply  that  there  were  different  kinds 
of  "Syrians,"  inasmuch  as  he  was 
found  to  be  a  maker  of  curry  pow- 
der in  London,  and  the  husband  of 
an  English  wnman,  a  Mahometan 
by  religion,  and  sufficiently  educated 
to  have  written  an  autobiography, 
which  had  unfortunately  been  burnt. 
According  to  John's  account,  these 
"Syrians"  were  "full  blood  Hindoos, 
and  not  Syrians,"  and  he  "  was  very 
sure  that  his  Gipsies  were  Indians." 
The  term  "full-blood  Hindoos"  who 
are  "thieves,  fortune-tellers  and 
vagrants,"  and  strollers  out  of  and 
back  to  India,  requires  explanation. 
John's  information  as  to  these  peo- 
ple being  called  by  the  other  na- 
tives of  India  "Syrians"  may  be 
very  reliable ;  but  that  ^ley  were 
"full-blood  Hindoos"  could  have 
been,  at  its  best,  nothing  but  a  sup- 
position on  his  part.  As  I  said  in 
the  Introduction  to  the  History  of 
the  Gipsies,  "  I  can  conceive  noth- 
ing more  difficult  than  an  attemjit  to 
elucidate  the  history  of  any  of  the 
infinity  of  sects,  castes  or  tribes  to 
be  met  widi  in  India"  (p.  41).  The 
nature  of  the  population  of  India  is 
such  that  there  would  hardly  be  a 
possibility  of  its  people  at  large  be- 
coming acquainted  with  the  move- 
ments of  a  few  families  of  outcasts 
leaving  their  race  behind  and  going 
to  and  returning  from  Syria  (if  they 
ever  did  that),  so  as  to  give  the 
whole  race  the  name  of  Syrians. 
The  name  must  have  had  its  origin 
from  the  people  having  come  origi- 
nally from  Syria,  or  from  parts  sur- 
rounding it. 


In  The  Gipsies  Mr.  Leland  says 
that  he  has  "  carefully  read  every- 
thing ever  printed  on  the  Romany" 
(Pref.  V.)  ;  and  that  it  is  his  "  opin- 
ion that  one  ought,  when  setting 
forth  any  subject,  to  give  quite  as 
good  an  opportunity  to  others  who 
are  in  our  business  as  to  ourselves  " 
(p.  88).  And  yet,  although  he  made 
exclusive  use  of  the  work  I  edited 
and  published  for  parts  of  his  article 
in  Johnson's  Cyclopczdia,  and  has  al- 
luded to  Messrs.  Borrow,  Smart, 
Palmer  and  Groome,  he  has  care- 
fully abstained  from  mentioning  my 
name,  however  much  he  may  have 
been  indebted  to  my  work.  By  re- 
ferring to  it,  he  cannot  but  remem- 
ber having  "  carefully  read  "  the 
following : — 

"  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
people  in  India  corresponding  to  the 
Gipsies  in  Europe  will  be  found  among 
those  tented  tribes  who  perform 
certain  services  to  the  British  armies ; 
at  all  events  there  is  such  a  tribe  in 
India  who  are  called  Gipsies  by  the 
Europeans  who  come  in  contact  with 
them.  A  short  time  ago,  one  of  these 
people,  who  followed  the  occupation  of 
a  camel  driver,  found  his  way  to  Eng- 
land, and  '  pulled  up  '  with  some  Eng- 
lish Gipsies,  whom  he  recognized  as  his 
own  people ;  at  least  he  found  that  they 
had  the  ways  and  ceremonies  of  them. 
But  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  such  a  tribe  in  India  did  not 
t'ollow  various  occupations  "  (p.  40). 
"  What  evidently  leads  Mr.  Borrow 
and  others  astray  in  the  matter  of  the 
origin  of  the  Gipsies,  is  that  they  con- 
clude that  because  the  language  spoken 
by  the  Gipsies  is  apparently,  or  for  the 
most  part,  Hindostanee,  therefore  the 
people  speaking  it  originated  in  Hindo- 
stan  ;  as  just  a  conclusion  as  it  would 
be  to  maintain  that  the  Negroes  in 
Liberia  originated  in  England  because 
they  speak  the  English  language  !  "  (p. 
41).  [Mr.  Leland  alludes  to  this  simile 
by  saying  that  English  spoken  by 
American  Negroes  does  not  prove 
Saxon  descent  (p.  20).] 

In  discussing  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  the  Gipsies  with  some 
English    members    of    the    race,     I 


14 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


found  that  "a  ver)-  intelligent  Gipsy 
informed  me  that  his  race  sprang 
from  a  body  of  men — a  cross  be- 
tween the  Arabs  and  Egyptians — 
that  left  Egypt  in  the  train  of  the 
Jews  "  (p.  14).  And  I  wrote  when 
I  published  this,  that  "  the  inteUigent 
reader  will  not  ditifcr  with  me  as  to 
the  weight  to  be  attached  to  the 
Gipsy's  remark  on  this  point."  To 
that  question  I  devoted  ten  (13-23) 
closely  printed  pages  to  demonstrate 
that  the  "  mixed  multitude,"  or  part 
of  it,  that  left  Egypt  with  Moses, 
afier  separating  from  the  Jews, 
travelled  East  into  Northern  Hindo- 
stan,  where  they  formed  the  Gipsy 
caste  (p.  2t);  becoming  in  every 
way  a  people  like  the  Gipsy  to  far 
as  he  is  known  to  the  pubHc  to-day. 
1  further  said  that  this  jieople 
"  travelled  East,  their  oiun  masters, 
and  became  the  origin  of  the  Gipsy 
nation  throughout  the  world"  (p. 
40). 

"  What  objection  could  any  one  ad- 
vance against  the  Gipsies  being  the 
people  that  left  Egypt  in  the  train  of 
the  Jews  ?  Not  certainly  an  objection 
as  to  race,  for  there  must  have  been 
many  captive  people  or  tribes  intro- 
duced   into    Egypt    from     the     many 

countries   surrounding  it That 

the  '  mixed  multitude '  travelled  into 
India,  acquired  the  language  of  that 
part  of  Asia,  a7id  perhaps  modified  its 
appearance  there,  and  became  the 
origin  of  the  Gipsy  race,  we  may  safely 

assume Everything  harmonizes 

so  beautifully  with  the  idea  that  the 
Gipsies  are  the  'mixed  multitude'  of 
the  Exodus  that  it  may  be  admitted  by 
the  world.  Even  in  the  matter  of  re- 
ligion, we  could  imagine  Egyptian  cap- 
tives losing  a  knowledge  of  their  re- 
ligion, as  has  happened  with  the 
Africans  in  the  New  World,*  and,  not 
having  had  another  taught  them,  leav- 


*  Tacitus  makes  Caius  Cassius,  in  the 
time  of  Nero,  say: — "At  present  we 
have  in  our  service  whole  nations  of 
slaves,  the  scum  of  mankind,  collected 
from  all  quarters  of  the  globe  ;  a  race 
of  men  who  bring  with  them  foreign 
rites,  and  the  religion  of  their  country, 
or  probably  no  religion  at  all." — Alurphy's 
Translation. 


ing  Egypt  under  Moses  without  any 
religion  at  all.  After  entering  India 
they  would  in  all  probability  become  a 
wandering  people,  and  for  a  certainty 
live  aloof  from  all  others  "  (pp.  494- 
496).  "  If  we  could  but  find  traces  of 
an  Egyptian  origin  among  the  Gipsies 
of  Asia,  say  Central  and  Western  Asia, 
the  question  would  be  beyond  dispute. 
But  that  might  be  a  matter  of  some 
trouble  "  (p.  40). 

In  this  way  Mr.  Leland's  inform- 
ant, John  Nano,  if  he  was  correct  in 
what  he  said,  confirmed  my  con- 
jecture as  to  the  Gipsies'  Egyptian 
or  rather  Syrian  origin ;  for  after 
escaping  from  Egypt  they  would  re- 
main for  some  time  in  Syria  or  its 
neighbourhood  before  they  woidd 
become  a  body  and  proceed  P^ast. 
As  illustrative  of  Mr.  Leland's  de- 
sire to  "  give  quite  as  good  an  op- 
portunity to  others  who  are  in  our 
business  as  to  ourselves,"  1  find  him 
writing  thus  : — 

"Here  I  interrupt  the  lady,"  a 
writer  on  Magyarland,  "  to  remark  that 
I  cannot  agree  with  her  nor  with  her. 
probable  (!)  authority,  Walter  (!) 
Simson,  in  believing  that  the  Gipsies 
are  the  descendants  of  the  mixed  races 
who  followed  Moses  out  of  Egypt. 
The  Rom  in  Egypt  is  a  Hindoo 
stranger,  as  he  ever  was  (!)  "  (p.  89). 

The  "authority"  was  mine,  not 
Walter  Simson' s,  which  Mr.  Leland 
perhaps  did  not  care  to  state.  One 
would  naturally  think  that  a  people 
who  left  Egypt  under  Moses  would 
be  looked  upon  there  as  "strangers" 
to-day,  rather  than  that  a  straggling 
family  or  company  of  Gipsies  re- 
turning to  India  from  Syria  (if  they 
ever  did  that)  would  cause  all  their 
race  that  never  left  India  to  be  called 
Syrians  for  ever  !  According  to  Mr. 
Leland's  style  of  reasoning  it  would 
follow  that  he  and  Americans  gener- 
ally could  not  have  originated  in 
England,  because  they  are  "  stran- 
gers" there,  and  are  looked  upon  as 
foreigners  by  the  law  and  by  people 
whose  sentiments  are  not  of  the 
most  delicate  nature  I 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


15 


II. 


Mr.  Leland's  style  of  reasoning,  his 
lack  of  candour,  and  his  reserve  as 
to  how  he  took  up  the  Gipsy  question, 
and  to  whom  he  had  been  indebted 
at  first  for  some  of  his  ideas,  detract 
very  much  from  the  desire  that  one 
would  naturally  have  to  put  confi- 
dence in  him.  His  many  confident 
assertions  about  what  others  have 
grave  doubts  and  his  frequent  contra- 
dictions have  a  similar  effect. 

In  The  Gipsies  there  is  very  little 
told  us  of  the  race  in  America  (not 
American  Gipsies)  of  any  kind,  and 
yet  Mr.  Leland  says  that  it  will 

"  Possess  at  least  the  charm  of  nov- 
elty, but  little  having  as  yet  been  writ- 
ten on  this  extensive  and  very  interest- 
ing branch  of  our  nomadic  population  " 
(Pref.  HI.). 

In  my  Preface  I  said  : — 

"  To  the  American  reader  generally 
the  work  will  illustrate  a  phase  of  life 
and  history  with  which  it  may  be  rea- 
sonably assumed  he  is  not  much  con- 
versant ;  for,  although  he  must  have 
some  knowledge  of  the  Gipsy  race  gen- 
erally, there  is  no  work,  that  I  am  aware 
of,  that  treats  of  the  body  like  the  pres- 
ent "  (p.  7). 

And  I  illustrated  the  race  in  Amer- 
ica in  notes  to  the  work,  and  in  as 
much  as  I  could  well  introduce  in 
my  long  Disquisition,  bringing  in  that 
part  of  it  which  had  its  origin  perhaps 
from  the  settlement  of  the  American 
Colonies.  When  Mr.  Leland  bor- 
rowed from  my  work  for  his  article 
in  Johnson's  Cyclopmdia  he  gave  the 
name  of  the  book  with  the  London 
imprint,  while  from  the  first  page  to 
the  last  it  showed  that  it  was  an 
American  book,  based  on  a  Scotch 
MS.;  and  the  copy  which  he  used  in 
all  probability  bore  a  New  York  im- 
print. 

I  admit  this  of  Mr.  Leland,  that, 
by  availing  himself  of  the  hard  labours 
of  others,  at  least  to  give  him  a  start, 
he  has  added  greatly  to  our  know- 
ledge of  the  Gipsy  language,  so  far 


as  I  know  and  can  judge  ;  but  that 
is  nearly  all  that  can  be  said  of  him. 
What  he  has  told  us  of  the  informa- 
tion got  from  a  native  of  India  as  to 
the  Gipsies  there  being  called  "  Syr- 
ians "  shows  that  he  was  merely  in 
good  luck  in  failing  in  with  the  man 
from  whom  he  obtained  it ;  while,  if 
it  is  reliable,  it  confirms  my  conjec- 
ture, although  of  that  it  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  his  business  to 
inform  the  world.  His  chapter  on 
the  "  Shelta  or  Tinkers'  Talk,"  picked 
up  also  as  it  were  by  accident  from 
a  stray  tinker,  is  indeed  of  great  in- 
terest ;  but  theovorld  has  reason  to 
question  his  judgment  when  he  says 
that  "  it  is,  in  fact,  a  language,  for^^^ifes^ 
can  be  spoken  grammatically,  and 
without  using  English  or  Romany " 
(P-  37 1^)-  Another  occasion  for  ques- 
tioning his  judgment  is  when  he  says 
that  '•  Mr.  [Walter]  Simson,  had  he 
known  the  '  Tinklers  '  better,  would 
have  found  that,  not  Romany,  but 
Shelta  was  the  really  secret  language 
which  they  employed,  although  Ro- 
many is  also  more  or  less  familiar  to 
them  all"  (p.  371)  ;  for  almost  any- 
one by  reading  the  History  can  see 
the  absurdity  of  it.* 

This  book  of  Mr.  Leland  (although 
described  in  the  Preface  as  "Sketches 
of  experiences  among  the  Gipsies"), 
to  justify  its  title  of  The  Gipsies, 
should  have  been  constructed  on 
some  plan  and  scientifically  arranged, 
with  a  great  variety  of  particulars, 
and  no  extraneous  matter  or  padding 
in  it.  In  place  of  that  we  have  little 
but  random  sketches  or  scenes  con- 
nected with  the  race.  There  is  no 
principle  running  through  it,  for  we 
are  told  in  the  Introduction  that 

,*  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  scene 
connected  with  the  Gipsy  language  in 
Scotland,  given  in  the  History,  is  that  at 
St.  Boswell's  (pp.  309-318).  The  word 
"  Tinkler,"  assumed  by  and  applied  to 
the  Scotch  Gipsies,  seems  to  have  been 
used  from  a  desire  to  escape  the  legal 
responsibility  attaching  to  the  word 
"  Gipsy." 


i6 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


"  The  day  is  comings  when  there  will 
be  no  ...  .  wild  wanderers  .  .  .  . 
and  certainly  no  Gipsies"  (p.  15). 
And  after  describing  how  I-lnglish  spar- 
rows have  driven  so  many  kinds  of  na- 
tive liirds  out  of  Philadelphia,  he  says, 
"  So  the  people  of  self-conscious  culture 
and  the  mart  and  factory  are  banishing 
tlie  wilder  sort As  a  Lon- 
don reviewer  said  when  I  asserted  in  a 
book  that  the  child  was  perhaps  born 
who  would  see  the  last  Gipsy, '  Some- 
how we  feel  sorry  for  that  child  '  "(p.  1 5). 
And  in  describing  English  fairs,  as  rep- 
resented by  that  at  Cobham,  he  says, 
••  In  a  few  years  the  last  of  them  will 
have  been  closed,  and  the  last  Gipsy 
will  be  there  to  look  on  "  (p.  142). 

Profoiind  research  and  ])hilosophi- 
cal  observation  and  reasoning  do  not 
seem  to  constitute  Mr.  Leiand's  forte. 
It  is  a  little  puzzling  to  decide  how 
to  treat  a  man  like  him  ;  for  his 
"  confident  assertions  "  in  regard  to 
the  disappearance,  or  wliat  some 
would  call  tiie  extinction,  of  the  race 
are  but  "contradictions"  of  his  own 
information  and  opinions  ;  saying 
nothing  of  what  1  published  at  great 
lengtii  on  the  ])eri)etuation  of  the 
Gipsies  in  a  settled  stale,  all  of  which 
he  admits  having  "  carefully  read." 
Among  Mr.  Iceland's  information  is 
the  following  : — 

"  Go  where  we  may  we  find  the  Jew. 
Has  any  other  wandered  so  far.-*  Yes, 
one  ;  for  wherever  Jew  has  gone  there 
too  we  find  the  Gipsy"  (p.  18).  "It 
....  has  penetrated  into  every 
village  which  European  civilization  has 
ever  touched.  He  who  speaks  Romany 
....  will  meet  those  with  whoin 
a  very  few  words  may  at  once  estab- 
lish   a   peculiar    understanding 

This  widely  spread  brotherhood  .  .  .  . 
are  honestly  nroud  that  a  gentle- 
man is  not  ashamed  of  them  "  (p.  25). 
"  Communitiesof  gemlemanly  and  lady- 
like (Tip,;ies  "  in  Russia  (p.  25).  "  All 
the  Gi|)sie3  in  the  country  are  not  upon 
the  roads.  Many  of  them  live  in  houses, 
and  tiiat  very  respectably,  nay,  even 
aristocratically.  Yea,  and  it  may  be, 
O  reader,  that  thou  hast  met  them  and 
knowest  thenc  not It  is  in- 
telligible enough  "  that  such  a  Gipsy 
"  should   say   as   little    as    possible    of 


his    origin and    ever    carefully 

keep  the  lid  of  silence  on  the  pot  of  his 
birth  "  (p.  272).  "  The  Gipsy  of  society, 
not  always,  but  yet  frequently,  retains 
a  keen  interest  in  his  wild  ancestrv.  He 
keeps  up  the  language;  it  is  a  delight- 
ful secret ;  he  loves  now  and  then  to 
take  a  look  at  '  the  old  thing '  [one  of 
my  phrases,  as  I  have  already  men- 
tioned]  I      know     ladies      in 

England  and  in  America,  both  of  the 
blood  and  otherwise,  who  would  give 
up  a  ball  of  the  highest  flight  in  society 
to  sit  an  hour  in  a  Gipsy  tent,  and  on 
whom  a  whispered  word  in  Roinany 
acts  like  wild-fire.  Great  as  my  experi- 
ence has  been  I  can  really  no  more  ex- 
plain the  intensity  of  this  yearning,  this 
rapport,  than  I  can  fly.  My  own  fancy 
for  Gipsydom  is  faint  and  feeble  com- 
pared to  what  I  have  found  in  many 
others  "  (p.  274). 

One  woidd  naturally  conclude  that 
this  race  is  not  disappearing  as 
"  British  birds  are  chasing  American 
ones  out  of  Philadelphia";  and  that 
it  could  not  be  said  that  "  the  child 
is  perhaps  born  who  will  see  the  last 
Gijisy,"  even  in  his  primitive  condi- 
tion.* 

*  It  is  not  only  puzzling,  but  provoking 
to  decide  how  to  treat  a  writer  like  Mr. 
Leland,  for  sometimes  he  shows  a  great 
deal  of  knowledge  of  his  subject,  and 
sometimes  apparently  nothing  of  it  —  one 
assertion  contradicting  another  on  the 
same  question.  What  in  reality  has  an 
antipathy  between  birds,  or  the  idea  of 
"  people  of  self-conscious  culture  and  the 
marL  and  factory,"  or  the  destiny  of  the 
American  Indians  to  do  with  the  destiny 
of  the  Gipsies  ?  For  he  says,  "Gipsies 
in  England  are  passing  away  as  rapidly 
as  Indians  in  North  America  "  {Ttie  Eng- 
lish Gipsies,  Pref.  X.).  As  a  native  of 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Leland  must  know 
that  these  Indians  become  extinct,  and  of 
the  Gipsies  in  England  that  although 
tl'.ere  are  comparatively  few  "dwellers 
in  tents  "  of  full  blood,  so  called,  there 
are  many,  many  thousands  of  more  or 
less  mixed  blood  following  various  call- 
ings, or  in  various  positions  in  lie,  as  he 
has  frequently  admitted.  The  distinction 
between  "  old-fashioned  "  Gipsies  and 
other  members  of  the  tribe  is  but  trifling 
with  the  subject. 

The  following  extracts  from  The  Eng- 
lish Gipsies  and  their  Language  are  in- 
teresting :  — 

"  Other  writers  have  had  much  to  say 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


17 


Mr.  Leland  explains,  in  his  chapter 
on  Cobham  P'air,  how  the  Gipsy 
problem  "puzzled  and  muddled" 
him. 

"  I  was  very  much  impressed  at  this 
fair  widi  the  extensive  and  unsuspected 
amount   of    Romany    existent    in    our 

rural     population There     were 

many  men  in  the  common  room,  mostly 
well  dressed,  and  decent  even  if  doubt- 
ful lookinsf.  I  observed  that  several 
used  Romany  words  in  casual  conversa- 
tion. I  came  to  the  conclusion  at  last 
that  all  who  were  present  knew  some- 
thing- of  it  "  (p.  140).  And  of  eleven 
kinds  of  people  that  were  at  the  fair,  he 
said  that  "  there  is  always  a  leaven  and 
a  suspicion  of  Gipsiness.  If  there  be  no 
descent,  there  is  affinity  by  marriage, 
familiarity,  knowledge  of  words  and 
ways,  sweet he.irting  and  trafficking,  so 
that  they  know  the  children  of  the  Rom 
as  the  house-world  does  not  know 
them,  and  they  in  some  sort  belong 
together  "  (p.  140). 

In  my  Disquisition  on  the  Gipsies 
I  said  :  — 

"  In  Scotland  the  prejudice  towards 
the  name  of  Gipsy  might  be  safely  al- 

of  their  incredible  distrust  of  Gorgios  and 
unwillingness  to  impart  their  language, 
but  I  have  always  found  them  obliging 
and  communicative  "  (Pref.  V.). — "  In 
every  part  of  the  world  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  get  Romany  words  even  from 
intelligent  Gipsies,  although  ihey  tiiav  he 
williiii^  until  all  their  heart  to  comrminicate 
them  "  (p.  17).  — "  Now  the  reader  is  pos- 
sioly  aware  that  of  all  difBcult  tasks,  one 
of  the  most  difficult  is  to  induce  a  dis- 
guised Gipsy,  or  even  a  professed  one. 
to  utter  a  word  of  Romany  to  a  man  not 
of  the  blood  "  (p.  37). — "Be  it  remem- 
bered, reader,  that  in  Germany,  at  the 
present  day,  the  mere  fact  of  being  a 
Gip^y  is  still  treated  as  a  crime  "  (p.  74). 
— "  Though  the  language  of  the  Gipsies 
has  been  kept  a  great  secret  for  centuries, 
still  a  few  words  have  in  England  oozed 
out  here  and  there  from  some  unguarded 
crevice"  (p.  78).  — "  The  very  fact  that 
they  hide  as  much  as  they  can  of  their 
Gipsy  life  and  nature  from  the  Gorgios 
woulJ  of  itself  indicate  the  depths  of 
singularity  concealed  beneath  their  ap- 
parent life"  (p.  153). — "Behind  it  all 
....  the  fierce  spirit  of  social  exile 
from  the  world  in  which  they  liv'ed 
....  and  the  joyous  consciousness  of  a 


lowed  to  drop,  were  it  only  for  this 
reason,  that  the  race  has  got  so  much 
mixed  up  with  the  native  blood,  and 
even  with  good  families  of  the  country, 
as  to  be,  in  plain  language,  a  jumble,  a 
pretty  kettle  offish,  indeed  "  (p.  427). 

Mr.  Leland  continues  : — 

"  No  novelist,  no  writer  whatever, 
has  as  yet  clearly  explained  the  curious 
fact  that  our  entire  nomadic  population, 
excepting  tramps,  is  not,  as  we  thought 
in  our  childhood,  composed  of  English 
people  like  ourselves.  It  is  leavened 
with  direct  Indian  blood  ;  it  has,  more 
or  less  modified,  a  peculiar  rn^rale." 
"  It  is  a  muddle,  perhaps,  and  a  puzzle ; 
I  doubt  if  anybody  quite  understands 
it  "  (p.  140). 

Had  Mr.  Iceland  said  that,  with 
the  exception  of  myself,  "  no  writer 
whatever"  had  even  alluded  to  the 
phenomenon  described,  1  believe  he 
would  have  stated  what  was  true.  I 
endeavoured  to  explain  it  in  a  Dis- 
quisition of  171  Images,  which  he  indi- 
rectly admitted  he  "carefully  read"; 
so  that  if  I  did  not  "  clearly  explain  " 
the    "  puzzle   and    muddle "   it  must 

secret  tongue  and  hidden  ways  "  (p.  156). 
—  "A  feeling  of  free-masonry,  and  of 
guarding  a  social  secret,  long  after  they 
leave  the  roads  and  become  highly 
reputable  members  of  society.  But  they 
have  a  secret,  and  no  one  can  know 
them    who   has    not   penetrated   it "    (p. 

174)- 

With  all  that  has  been  said,  the  words 
which  I  have  put  in  italics  have  a  curious 
meaning — that  the  Gipsies  in  giving  their 
language  to  "  strangers "  "  may  be 
willing  with  all  their  heart  to  communi- 
cate them  "!  I  have  explained  this  sub- 
ject at  length  in  the  Disquisition  (pp. 
281  and  282)  in  reference  to  Mr.  Borrow 
and  others,  not  in  regard  to  the  willing- 
ness and  stupidity,  but  the  shufiBing  of 
the  Gipsy  in  giving  the  meaning  of  Vvords, 
although  isolated  and  abstract  ideas  might 
occasionally  puzzle  some  of  them  ;  for 
they  translated  to  Mr.  Borrov/  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed,  sentence  by  sentence.  The 
Lord's  Prayer,  given  by  Mr.  Borrow, 
Mr.  Leland  admits  to  be  "  pure  English 
Gip.':y  "  (p.  70).  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Le- 
land states,  with  what  stock  of  words 
and  how  acquired,  he  first  approached 
the  Gipsies,  and  how  he  used  them,  to  get 
inside  of  the  guard  of  the  tribe. 


i8 


MR.  L  ELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


have  proceeded  from  a  lack  of  intel- 
lect on  my  part,  or  on  his  in  not  un- 
derstanding me.  Since  then  1  have 
frequently  expatiated  on  and  de- 
scribed it,  but  I  am  not  aware  that 
Mr.  Leland  has  seen  what  I  wrote 
on  these  occasions.  In  The  Scoffish 
Churches  and  the  Gipsies  I  said  that 
the  Gii^sy  problem  "  may  at  first  pre- 
sent an  aspect  of  a  '  labyrinth  of  diffi- 
culties '  "  ;  but  that  to  solve  it  '•  there 
is  little  intellect  wanted  for  the  occa- 
sion, but  such  as  it  is  it  should  be 
allowed  to  act  freely  on  the  subject 
of  inquiry  "  (p.  23).  To  judge  of 
Mr.  Leland's  works  on  the  (Jipsies 
one  would  think  that  he  had  been 
indebted  to  no  one  for  anything  ;  so 
that  it  is  remarkable  he  should  have 
complained  that  novelists  should  not 
have  "  clearly  explained "  to  him 
what  he  himself  should  have  told  us 
— particularly  as  he  spoke  of  his 
"great  experience"  among  the  Gii)- 
sies — unless  it  appears  that  even  to 
novelists  he — as  a  professional  writer 
taking  up  a  subject  that  came  to  his 
hand — has  been  indebted  for  putting 
him  on  the  track  for  repeating  or 
illustrating  an  '•  oft-told  tale."*  We 
can  easily  imagine  how  I\rr.  Leland 
got  "  puzzled  and  muddled  "  in  con- 
templating his  subject  when  he  says 
so  positively  that  the  Gipsies  are  dis- 
appearing as  "  British  birds  are  chas- 

*  In  the  Preface  to  The  Eui^lish  Gipsies 
and  their  Language,  Mr.  Leland  says 
that  all  that  it  contains  "was  gathered 
directly  from  the  Gipsies  themselves " 
(v.);  that  he  did  not  take  "anything 
from  Simson,  Hoyland,  or  any  other 
writer  on  the  Romany  race  in  England  "; 
and  that  nothing  is  a  "  re-warming  of  that 
which  was  gathered  by  others  "  (x.).  All 
that  appears  strictly  true  ;  yet  he  says 
nothing  of  how  he  was  "  put  on  the  track 
for  repeating  or  illustrating  an  '  oft-told 
tale.'  "     But  he  says  :  — 

"  If  I  have  not  given  in  this  book  a 
sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Gipsies,  or 
statistics  of  their  numbers,  or  accounts  of 
their  social  condition  in  different  coun- 
tries, it  is  because  nearly  everything  of 
the  kind  may  be  found  in  the  works  of 
George  Borrow  and  Walter  Simson " 
(xi.). 

He  did  not  find  much  of  the  kind  men- 


ing  American  ones  out  of  Philadel- 
phia"; and  that  the  mixed  state  of 
Gipsydoni  seen  at  Cobhain  Fair 
"  was  old  before  the  Saxon  Hep- 
tarchy"  (p.  140).  What  he  said  he 
could  find  in  "  no  writer  whatever  " 
was  elaborately  described  in  the  book 
which  I  published.  That  he  used 
for  his  own  purposes,  and  then  ap- 
parently turned  round  and  threw  out 
his  heels  at  it. 

I  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Iceland's 
"confident  assertions,"  but  1  have 
space  merely  to  allude  to  some  of 
them.  Among  these  are  the  follow- 
ing : — That  there  is  no  mystery  about 
the  origin  of  the  Gipsies  (p.  331), 
and  that  "  it  is  a  matter  of  history 
that,  since  the  Aryan  morning-  of 
mankind,  the  Romany  have  been 
chiromancing  "  (p. 225);  that  "among 
those  who  left  India  were  men  of 
different  castes  and  different  colours, 
ranging  from  the  pure  Northern  in- 
vader to  the  Negro-like  Southern 
Indian"  (p.  24)  ;  that  the  Gipsies  in 
Egypt  have  lost  their  tongue  (p.  296)  ; 
that  the  English  Gipsy  cares  not  a 
farthing  "  to  know  anything  about  his 
race  as  it  exists  in  foreign  countries, 
or  whence  it  came  "  (\).  34)  ;  and 
that  there  is  hardly  a  travelling  com- 
pany of  dancers,  musicians,  singers, 
or  acrobats,  or  theatre  "  in  Europe 
or  America  in  w'hich  there  is  not 
at  least  one  person  with   some  Ro- 

tioned  in  Mr.  Borrow's  books,  so  far  as  I 
remember,  and  omitted  to  say  that  I  had 
written  very  fully  on  the  points  stated. 
It  would  have  been  interesting  to  have 
been  told  by  Mr.  Leland  about  his  being 
"  puzzled  and  muddled  "  at  what  he  saw 
at  Cobham  Fair,  how  he  came  to  write, 
nine  years  before  that,  as  follows  : — 

"  There  have  been  thousands  of  swell 
Romany  chals  who  have  moved  in  sport- 
ing circles  of  a  higher  class  than  they  are 
to  be  found  in  at  the  present  day  "  (p.  92). 
—  "It  may  be  worth  while  to  state,  in  this 
connection,  that  Gipsy  blood  intermingled 
with  Anglo-Saxon,  when  educated,  gen- 
erally results  in  intellectual  and  physical 
vigour  "  (p.  174)- — And  where  was  it  that 
he  found  the  idea  that  John  Banyan  was 
a  member  of  the  Gipsy  race  (p.  63),  if  it 
was  not  as  elaborately  given  in  my  Dis- 
quisition ? 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


19 


many  blood  "  (p.  332).  This  at 
least  is  commoii,  I  dare  say  very 
coinnion.  On  one  occasion  I  looked 
over  the  show-bill  while  in  MS.  of 
an  English  Gipsy  company  who  trav- 
elled in  America  with  a  small  pano- 
rama.* 

The  conclusion  which  I  drew  of 
Mr.  Leland  after  reading  his  Cyclo- 
paedia article  was  that,  apart  from  the 
language,  he  knew  little  of  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Gipsies.  The  knowledge 
of  the  language  has  given  him  the 
entree  into  the  circle  of  a  certain 
class  of  the  Gipsies,  leading  to  a 
"  flash-in-the-pan  "  knowledge  of 
them  ;  but  not  constituting  him  a 
reliable  guide  on  the  whole  question 
under  consideration  ;  for,  in  keeping 
with  his  "confident  assertions"  gen- 
erall)^,  he   disposes  of  it    by   saying 

*  One  of  Mr.  Leland's  "  confident  as- 
sertions "  is  that  "  the  English  Gipsy 
cares  not  a  farthing  '  to  know  anything 
about  his  race  as  it  exists  in  foreign 
countries,  or  whence  it  came  '  ";  which 
is  not  a  fact.  He  seems  to  have  misin- 
terpreted the  English  Gipsy  peculiariiy 
which  assimilates  in  appearance  to  the 
native  English  one,  as  I  have  written 
thus  in  the  History  of  the  Gipsies: — 
"  Though  Gipsies  everywhere,  they  differ 
in  some  respects  in  the  various  countries 
which  they  inhabit.  For  example,  an 
English  Gipsy  of  pugilistic  tendencies 
will,  in  a  vapouring  way,  engage  to 
thrash  a  dozen  of  his  Hungarian  breth- 
ren "  (p.  359).  And  of  the  more  mixed 
kind  of  Gipsies,  I  have  said  : — "  In  Great 
Britain  the  Gipsies  are  entitled,  in  one 
respect  at  least,  to  be  called  Englishmen, 
Scotchmen,  or  Irishmen  ;  for  their  gen- 
eral ideas  as  men,  as  distinguished  from 
their  being  Gipsies,  and  their  language 
indicate  them  at  once  to  be  such,  nearly 
as  much  as  the  common  natives  of  these 
countries  "  (p.  372). — What  is  described 
very  fully  throughout  the  History,  and 
especially  in  the  note  at  pp.  342  and  343, 
about  the  different  colours  or  castes  of 
the  Gipsies,  meets  Mr.  Leland's  remarks 
about  those  who  left  India.  Thus  : — 
"  What  are  full-blood  Gipsies,  to  com- 
mence with?  The  idea  itself  is  intangi- 
ble ;  for,  by  adopting,  more  or  less, 
wherever  they  have  been,  others  into 
their  body,  during  their  singular  history, 
a  pure  Gipsy,  like  the  pure  Gipsy  lan- 
guage, is  doubtless  nowhere  to  be 
found  "  (p.  342). 


that  "  the  child  is  perhaps  born  who 
will  see  the  last  Gipsy. "t 

As  long  as  Mr.  Leland  has  stuck 
to  his  subject  he  has  confirmed  what 
I  said  in  the  work  published  by  me, 
although  he  has  made  no  acknow- 
ledgment of  it  in  any  way.  P'ven 
on  the  subject  of  the  tinkers  in  Eng- 
land, he — so  far  as  he  may  be  con- 
sidered an  authority — has  confirmed 
what  I  said  of  their  being  Gipsies  of 
mixed  blood  : — ''  These  are  but  in- 
stances of,  I  might  say,  all  the  Eng- 
lish tinkers.  Almost  every  old  coun- 
trywoman about  the  Scottish  Border 
knows  that  the  Scottish  tinkers  are 
Gipsies  ■'  (p.  508).  He  also  sjieaks 
of  John  Bunyan  having  been  a  "half- 
blood  Gipsy  tinker"  (p.  213).  He 
was  only  justified  in  saying  that  he 
was  of  "  mixed  blood";  but  he  made 
no  allusion  to  my  long  argument 
(pp.  313  and  506-523)  in  defence  of 
it,  which  I  published  in  Notes  and 
Queries  on  the  12th  December,  1857, 
and  illustrated  it  in  two  shorter  arti- 
cles  in   the   early  part   of    1858,    in 

f  With  the  limited  space  at  his  disposal 
for  his  cyclopaedia  article,  Mr.  Leland 
could  not  be  expected  to  tell  us  much  in 
it  about  the  Gipsies.  In  it  he  says  that 
"  their  hair  seldom  turns  gray,  even  in 
advanced  age,  unless  there  be  '  white  ' 
blood  in  their  veins";  that,  "  like  North 
American  Indians,  the  Gipsies  all  walk 
with  their  feet  straight  ";  and  that  "  there 
are  nearly  100  English  Gipsy  family 
names,  most  of  which  are  represented  in 
America."  And  further  : — "  At  the  pres- 
ent day  the  Romany  is  the  life  of  the 
entire  vagabond  population  of  the  roads 
in  England,  it  being  almost  impossible 
to  find  a  tinker  or  petty  hawker  who  is 
not  part  Gipsy.  There  are  now  but  a 
few  hundred  full-blooded  tetit  Gipsy  per- 
sons in  England  (1S74),  but  of  ...  . 
house-dwellers,  who  keep  their  Gipsy 
blood  a  secret,  and  of  half-breeds  .... 
or  of  those  affiliated  by  blood,  all  of  whom 
possess  the  great  secret  of  the  Romany 
language  ta  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
there  are  perhaps  20,000."  "  The  tinkers 
in  England  are  all  Gipsies." 

Including  o//of  "  the  blood  "  in  various 
positions  in  life,  there  are  doubtless 
vastly  more  of  the  tribe  in  England  than 
20.000,  considering  the  time  they  have 
been  in  the  country,  and  the  healthy  and 
prolific  nature  of  the  race. 


20 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


which  the  outline  of  the  History  of 
the  Gipsies  was  given  ;  so  that  the 
question  of  lUin^an's  nationality  has 
been  bet'ore  "  all  England "  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  unanswered. 

What  I  wrote  in  The  Scottish 
Churches  and  the  Gipsies  is  equally 
applicable  to  Mr.  Leland  : — 

"  As  I  have  said  of  Mr.  Borrow,  any 
one  treating-  of  such  a  subject  as  the 
Gipsies  should,  so  far  as  space  allowed, 
'  comment  on  and  admit  or  reject  the 
facts  and  opinions  of  his  case  as  dis- 
covered  and  advanced  by  others,'  and 
not  'put  forth  his  own  ideas  only,  as  if 
nothing-  had  been  said  by  others  before 
or    besides    him'"  (p.    12). — "I    think 
that  what  I  have  written  and  published 
on  the  Gipsies  should  have  been  treated 
with    more    candour   and    courtesy,    at 
least  with  more  care  and  consideration, 
by  others  who  have  done  likewise,  say- 
ing notiiing  of  the  press.     I  also  think 
that  I  have  embraced  almost  all,  if  not 
all,  of  the   principles   connected    vvith 
the  existence  and  perpetuation   of  the 
race;  so  that  others  in  discussing  them 
should  '  comment  on  and  admit  or  re- 
ject '  what  1  have  advanced,  and  I  think 
proved,  in  place  of  putting  forth    opin- 
ions apparently  without  due  investiga- 
tion "   (p.    14).— "His   illustrations    of 
their  language,  in  common  with  those 
of  other  writers,   are  very    interesting, 
....  and    the    occasional,  as    if    ac- 
cidental, remarks  made  by  the  Gipsies, 
at  intervals,  bearing  on  the  Gipsy  ques- 
tion proper,  are  of  importance  "  (p.  17). — 
"  He  gives  us  nothing  of  the  philosophy 
of  the  existence,  history,  perpetuation, 
development  and  destiny  of  the  tribe 
and  its  off-shoots.     He  seems  to   use 
his  eyes  and   ears  only,  and  with  these 
and  his  turn   tor  writing  he  has  given 
us    some    really    good    sketches    and 

scenes But     besides      using 

the  eyes  and  ears  in  connection  with 
such  a  subject,  it  is  necessary  to  exer- 
cise the  intellect  to  discover  and  explain 
what  is  not  ob\ious  or  hidden,  and  il- 
lustrate   the   meaning  and    bearing  of 

what    is    described His    book. 

however  interesting  parts  of  it  may 
be,  is  not  calculated  to  serve  any 
ultimate  purpose  of  importance;  nor  is 
it   written    in   a  regular  or  systematic 

manner Nothing  can    make    a 

subject  like  that  of  the  Gipsies  at- 
tractive (if  it  can  ever  be  made  attract- 


ive)  to  the  better  classes  of    readers, 
and  perpetuate  an  interest  in  it,  but  by 
treating  it  in  such  a  way  as  will  combine 
a   variety   of  facts,   well   arranged   and 
illustrated,  and  principles;  out  of  which 
can  be  constructed  a  theory  or  system 
that  can  be  discussed  and  proved  by  a 
reference   to   the   facts   and    principles 
given These    writers    are   use- 
ful   in    their   ways,   but    beyond    that 
they  spoil  the  subject  of  the  Gipsies,  in 
consequence  of  the  'utter  absence  in 
them  of  everything  of  the  nature  of  a 
philosophy  of  the   subject ' ;    which  is 
peculiar   to    '  all  the   works  that  have 
hitherto    appeared     on    the     Gipsies  ' 
{Dis.,  p.  532),  so  far  as  I  have  seen  or 
heard  of  them  "    (p.    18). — "A   know- 
ledge of  the  science  of  race,  in  the  es- 
sential   meaning    of    the    word,    and 
especially   as  it  applies   to  the  Gipsies, 
cannot  be  said  to  be  even  in  its  infancy. 
Still,  it  might   have  been  asked,  what 
could  two  Scotch  Gipsies  propagate,  in 
body   and    mind,   but    Gipsies?     They 
certainly  could  not  give  origin  to  Jews 
or  common  Scotch  ;  but  Gipsy  Scotch 
or  Scotch  Gipsy  would  infallibly  follow  " 
(p.    19). — "Of  late  years  a  number  of 
publications   and   articles,    of  more  or 
less  importance,   on  the  Gipsies  have 
appeared    in    Great    Britain.     Some  of 
these  doubtless  had  their  origin  in  the 
work  published  by  me  in  1865,  although 
no  acknowledgment  was  made  of  it  in 
any   way ;    and   yet   the   most    of    the 
original  MS.  of  it  was  prepared  before 
Mr.     Borrow     had     apparently     even 
thought  of  writing  on  the  race  "  (p.  17), 
(that  is,  between  1817  and   1831). — "  If 
they  really  have  at  heart  the  desire  of 
knowing  and   informing  the  public  'ail 
about  the  Gipsies,'  why  do  they  so  per- 
sistently lead  it   inferentially  to   believe 
that   the  mass   of  information    on  the 
subject,  in   all  its  bearings,   published 
by  me  has  no  existence  ?     One  would 
naturally  think   that  they  would  grasp 
at  it,  and  illustrate  and  supplement  it ; 
and  prove  anything  in  it   to  be  wrong- 
that  they  allege  or  suppose  to  be  so, 
and  let  me  hear  of  their  objections" 
(p.  17). 

^Vith  all  his  professed  candour  in 
regard  to  all  who  have  written  oa 
the  subject  of  the  (;i|)sies,  and  co- 
operating with  his  "colleagues"  in 
connection  with  it,  why  did  Mr.  Le- 
land not  take   it   up   from   where  it 


MR.  LELAND  ON  THE  GIPSIES. 


21 


was  lefl  by  me,  and  used  by  him  for 
his  article  in  Johnson'' s  Cyclopcedia  I 
In  place  of  amusing  the  world  with 
the  fictions  that  the  Gipsy  race  is 
disappearing  as  "British  birds  are 
chasing  American  ones  out  of  Phila- 
delphia," and  that  "  the  child  is  per- 
haps born  who  will  see  the  last 
Gipsy,"  he  might  have  assisted  nie 
in  "  breaking  down  the  middle  wall 
of  partition  "  between  them  and  the 
rest  of  the  world  ;  so  that  the  Gipsy 
race,  at  least  in  its  off-shoots,  may 
be    acknowledged    openly,    and    al- 


lowed as  such  to  take  their  places  in 
society,  as  "men  and  brethren," 
which  in  many  instances  they  do 
now,  although  unknown  to  the 
world. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
and  could  be  said  of  Mr.  Leland  as 
a  writer  on  the  Gipsies,  and  of  the 
work  under  review,  Tlie  GipsieSy 
taking  it  all  in  all,  is  an  interesting 
book,  and  deserves  to  be  well 
read.* 

*  The  same  remark   applies   to    The 
English  Gipsies  and  their  Langnage. 


Ever  since  entering  Great  Britain,  about  the  year  1 506,  the 
Gipsies  have  been  drawing  into  their  body  the  blood  of  the  ordin- 
ary inhabitants  and  conforming  to  their  ways;  and  so  prohfic  has 
the  race  been,  that  there  cannot  be  less  than  250,000  Gipsies  of  all 
castes,  colours,  characters,  occupations,  degrees  of  education,  cul- 
ture, and  position  in  life,  in  the  British  Isles  alone,  and  possibly 
double  that  number.  There  are  many  of  the  same  race  in  t'nt 
United  States  of  America.  Indeed,  there  have  been  Gipsies  in 
America  from  nearly  the  first  day  of  its  settlement;  for  many  of 
the  race  were  banished  to  the  plantations,  often  for  very  trifling 
offences,  and  sometimes  merely  for  being  by  "  habit  and  repute 
Egyptians."  But  as  the  Gipsy  race  leaves  the  tent,  and  rises  to 
civilization,  it  hides  its  nationality  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  so 
great  is  the  prejudice  against  the  name  of  Gipsy.  In  Europe  and 
America  together,  there  cannot  be  less  than  4,000,000  Gipsies  in 
existence.  _,-i.in  Bunyan,  the  author  of  the  cclehraKd  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  was  one  of  this  singular  people,  as  will  be  conclusively 
shown  in  the  present  work.  The  philosophy  of  the  existence  ct 
the  Jews,  since  the  dispersion,  v/ill  also  be  discussed  and  established 
in  it. 

When  the  "wonderful  story"  of  the  Gipsies  is  told,  as  it  ought 
to  be  told,  it  constitutes  a  work  of  interest  to  many  classes  of  read- 
ers, being  a  subject  unique,  distinct  from,  and  u.nknown  to,  the  rest 
ot  the  human  family.  In  the  present  work,  the  race  has  been  treated 
of  so  fully  and  elaborately,  in  all  its  aspects,  as  in  a  great  meas- 
ure to  fill  and  satisfy  the  mind,  instead  of  being,  as  heretofore,  little 
better  than  a  myth  to  the  understanding  of  the  most  intelligent 
person. 

The  history  of  the  Gipsies,  when  thus  comprehensively  treated, 
forms  a  study  for  the  most  advanced  and  cultivated  mind,  as  well 
as  for  the  youth  whose  intellectual  and  literary  character  is  still  to 
be  formed ;  and  furnishes,  among  other  things,  a  system  of  science 
not  too  abstract  in  its  nature,  and  having  for  its  subject-matter  the 
strongest  of  human  feelings  and  sympathies.  The  work  also  seeks 
to  raise  the  name  of  Gipsy  out  of  the  dust,  where  it  now  lies ; 
while  it  has  a  very  important  bearing  on  the  conversion  of  the 
jews,  the  advancement  of  Christianity  generally,  and  the  devclor 
ment  of  historical  and  moral  science. 

London,  October  icth,  1865, 


SECOND    EDITION. 


SIMSON'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  GIPSIES. 

575  Pages.    Crown  8vo.    Price,  $2.00. 


NOTICES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEESS. 

Kdilovnl  Oiifrrfrrh/  J{ri:iew. — "The  tiMe  of  tliis  work  (rives 
ft  correct  ith-a  ol  its  cliaractor ;  the  matter  fully  justifies  it.  Even  in  its 
oriuiiinl  form  it  was  the  most  intereftinfr  and  reliable  history  of  the 
Oi])sies  with  which  we  were  flc(]nainted.  But  it  is  now  much  en- 
iar^red,  and  hrou/xht  down  to  the  present  time.  The  disfjuisition  on  the 
past,  present,  and  future  of  tliat  sitijxular  race,  added  l)v  the  editor, 
greatly  enhances  the  value  of  tlie  work,  for  it  emboilies  the  results  of 
extensive  research  and  careful  investigation."  "  The  chaj)ter  on  tlie  Gip- 
sy lanjruafjre  should  be  read  Ity  all  who  take  any  interest  eitlier  in  com- 
parative j)hilolojfy  or  ethnolopy  ;  for  it  is  mucli  more  curious  and  in- 
structive than  most  people  would  expect  from  the  nature  of  the  subject. 
The  volume  is  well  printed  and  neatly  bound,  and  has  the  advantage  of 
a  cojjious  al_  habetical  index." 

Co)ifjr('frnfioiial  JievicnK  (Bcston) — "The  senior  partner  \n 
tliH  authorship  of  this  book  was  n  Scotchman  who  made  it  his  life-long 
pleasure  to  go  a  '  (iiy)sy  liunting,'  to  use  his  own  phrase.     He  was  a  per 

Bonal  friend  of  Sir  N\'!ilter  Scott Ilis  enthusiasm  was  genuine,  his 

diligence  great,  his  sapracity  remarkable,  and  Ids  discoveries  rewarding." 
"  'J'he  book  is  undoubttMlly  the  fullest  and  most  reliable  which  our  lan- 
guage contain-!  on  the  subject. '  "  This  volume  is  valuable  for  its  in- 
Btruction,  and  excee  'iiigly  amusing anecdotically.  It  overnins  with  the 
humorous  "  "  The  subject  in  its  i)resenl  form  is  novel,  and  we  freely 
add,  very  sensational."  "  Indeed,  the  book  assures  us  that  our  country 
is  full  of  this  peoph;.  mixed  up  as  they  liave  l>ocome.  by  marriage,  wifJi 
all  the  European  stocks  during  the  last  thrc^  centuries.  The  amalg  'ma 
tiori  has  done  mucii  to  merge  them  in  the  gen<'ral  current  of  modern 
eflucation  and  civilization  ;  yet  they  retain  their  lanjruage  with  closest 
tenacity,  as  a  sort  of  Freemason  medium  of  intercommunion  ;  and 
while  they  never  are  wiling  to  own  their  orisfin  among  outsiders,  they 
are  very  proud  of  it  among  themselves."  "  VN'e  liad  regarded  them  aa 
entitle(l  to  considerab  f  anticjuity,  but  we  now  fmd  tlu\t  they  were  nono 
other  than  the  '  mix-d  multitude'  which  accompanied  the  Hebrew  ex- 
ode(Ex.  XII  08)  under  .Moses— straggling  or  di.-iatfected  Efry])tians,  who 
went  along  to  ventilati;  tlieir  discontent,  or  to  improve  their  fortunes. 
....  We  are  not  )>repared  to  take  issue  with  these  authors  on  any  of 
the  points  raised  by  them  " 

UTef/Mflisf  Qiinrforlif  Jievietv. — "  Have  wo  Qlpsies  amon(jr 
as  t  Yea,  verih ,  if  .Mr.  Simson  is  to  be  believed,  they  swarm  our  country 
in  secret  legions.  There  is  no  place  on  the  four  (]uariers  of  the  globo 
wliere  some  of  them  have  not  penetrated.  Even  in  New  Euffland  a  sly 
Gipsy  girl  will  enter  the  factory  as  em])loye,  will  by  her  allurements 
v.iii  a  young  .Jonathan  to  marry  her,  and  in  due  season,  tlie  'cute  gen- 
tleman will  f\n(\  himself  the  father  of  a  young  brood  of  intense  Gip.'ies. 
Tho  mother  will  have  opened  to  her  young  progeny  the  mystery  and 


NOTICES  OF  THE  AMERICAN   PRESS. 

tht  AJmance  of  Its  lineage,  will  have  disclosed  its  bixth-riglit  connection 
with  a  secret  brotberliood,  whose  protounder  Freemasonry  is  based  on 
blood,  historicallv  extending  itself  into  the  most  dim  antiquity,  and 
geographically  spreading  over  most  of  the  earth.  The  fatscinaiions  of 
this  mystic  tie  are  wonderfid.  Afraid  or  ashamed  to  reveal  the  secret 
to  the  outside  world,  the  young  Gipsy  is  inwardly  intensely  proud  of 
his  unique  nobility,  and  is  very  likely  to  despise  his  alien  father,  who  ia 
of  course  glad  to  keep  the  late  discovered  secret  from  the  world.  Uence 
dear  reader,  you  know  not  but  your  next  neighbour  is  a  (Jipsy."  "  The 
volume  before  us  possesses  a  rare  interest,  both  from  the  unique  charac- 
ter of  the  subject,  and  from  the  absence  of  nearly  any  other  source  of 
full  information.  It  is  the  result  of  observation  from  real  life."  I'he 
language  "  is  spoken  with  varying  dialects  in  diflerent  countries,  but 
with  standard  purity  in  Hungary.  It  is  the  precious  inheritance  and 
proud  peculiarity  of  the  Oipey,  which  he  will  never  forget  and  seldom 
reveal.  The  varied  and  skillful  mancEuvres  of  Mr.  Simson  to  purloin  or 
wheedle  out  a  small  vocabulary,  with  the  various  efl'ects  of  the  opera- 
tion on  the  minds  and  actions  of  the  Gipsies,  furnish  many  an  amusing 
narrative  in  these  pages,"  "  Persecutions  of  the  most  cruel  character 
have  embittered  and  barbarized  them.  .  .  .  Even  now  .  .  .  they  do  not 
realize  the  kindly  feeling  of  enlightened  minds  toward  them,  and  view 
with  fierce  suspicion  every  apjiroach  designed  to  draw  from  them  the  se- 
crets of  their  history,  habits,  laws  and  language."  "  The  age  of  racial 
caste  is  passing  away.  Modern  Christianity  will  refuse  to  tolerate  the 
spirit  of  hostility  and  oppression  based  on  feature,  colour,  or  lineage."  The 
"book  is  an  intended  first  step  for  the  improvement  of  the  race  that  forma 
its  subject,  and  every  magnanimous  spirit  must  wish  that  it  may  prove 
not  the  last.  We  heartily  commend  the  work  to  our  readers  as  not  only 
full  of  fascinating  details,  but  abounding  with  points  of  interest  to  the 
benevolent  Christian  heart."  "  The  general  spirit  of  the  work  is  em- 
inently enlightened,  liberal,  and  humane." 

Evangelical  Quarterlt/ J{evi€W.—"'i'he  Gipsies,  their  race 
end  language  have  always  excited  a  more  than  ordinary  interest.  The 
work  before  us,  apparently  the  result  of  careful  research,  is  a  compre- 
hensive history  of  this  singular  people,  abounding  in  marvelous  inci- 
dents and  curious  information,  it  is  highly  instructive,  and  there  is 
appended  a  full  and  most  careful  index — so  important  in  every  work." 

National  Freemason.—"  We  feel  confident  that  our  readers 
Will  relish  the  following  concerning  the  Gipsies,  from  the  British  Ma- 
sonic Organ  :  That  an  article  on  Gipsyism  is  not  out  of  place  in  this  Mag- 
azine will  be  admitted  by  every  one  who  knows  anything  of  the  history, 
manners,  and  customs  of  these  strange  wanderers  among  the  nations  o{ 
the  earth.  The  Freemasons  have  a  language,  words,  and  signs  pfctiliar 
to  themselves  ;  so  have  the  Gipsies.  A  Freemason  basin  every  country 
&  friend,  and  in  every  climate  a  home,  secured  to  him  by  the  mystic  in- 
fluence  of  that  worldwide  association  to  which  he  belongs  ;  siiiiilar  are 
the  privileges  of  the  Gipsy.  But  here,  of  course,  the  analogy  ceases 
Freemasonry  is  an  Order  banded  together  for  purposes  of  the'  liighest 
benevolence.  Gipsyisra,  we  fear,  has  been  a  source  of  constant  trouble 
and  inconvenience  to  European  nations.  The  interest,  therefore,  wliich 
as  Masons  we  may  evince  in  the  Gipsies  arises  principally,  we  may  say 
wholly,  from  the  fact  of  their  being  a  secret  society,  and  also  from  the 
fact  that  many  of  them  are  enrolled  in  our  lodges.  .  .  .  There  are 


NOTICES   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PRESS. 

In  Iho  ITmted  Kinfrdom  a  vast  raultitude  of  mixed  Gipsies,  diflFerinjj 
very  little  in  outward  npjiearance,  mnnuers.  and  cuetoms  from  ordinary 
}3riton8;  Imi  in  heart  tliorouffb  (Jipsies,  as  carefully  inil  jealously 
puardinfj  their  lanfjuajje  and  secrets,  as  we  do  the  secrets  of  the  Masonic 
Order."  ""  Mr.  Simson  makes  masterly  establii^hment  of  the  fact  that 
John  iiunyan,  the  world-renowned  author  of  the  '  Pilgrim's  Progress,' 
was  descended  from  Gipsy  blood." 

Neiv  York  Independent — "  Such  a  book  is  the  History  of  thb 
Gipsies.  Every  one  who  has  a  fondness  for  the  acquisition  of  out-of-the- 
way  knowledge,  chietly  for  the  pleasure  afforded  by  its  possession,  will 
like  lliis  book.  It  contains  a  mass  of  facts,  of  stories,  and  of  legends 
connected  with  the  Oii)sies  ;  a  variety  of  theories  as  to  their  origin  .  .  . 
and  various  interesting  incidents  of  adventures  amonfi;  these  mo(iern 
Ishmaelites.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  curious  infonnation  to  be  ob- 
tained from  this  history,  nearly  all  of  which  will  be  new  to  Americans." 
"It  is  singular  that  so  little  attention  has  been  heretofore  given  to  this 
particular  topic  ;  but  it  is  probably  owing  to  the  fact  that  Gipsies  are  so 
careful  to  keep  outsiders  from  a  knowledge  of  their  language  that  they 
even  deny  its  existence."  "  The  history  is  just  the  book  with  which  to 
occupy  one's  idle  moments ;  for,  whatever  else  it  lacks,  it  certainly  is 
not  wanting  in  interest." 

New  Yorh  Observer. — "  Among  the  peoples  of  the  world,  the 
Gipsies  are  the  most  mysterious  and  romantic.  1  heir  origin,  modes  of 
life,  and  habits  have  been,  until  quite  recently,  rather  conjectural  than 
known.  Mr.  Walter  Simson,  after  years  of  investigation  and  study, 
produced  a  history  of  this  remarkable  people  which  is  unrivalled  for  the 
amount  of  information  which  it  conveys  in  a  manner  adu{)te(i  to  excite 
the  deepest  interest."  "  We  are  glad  that  Mr.  James  simson  has  not 
felt  the  same  timidity,  but  has  given  the  book  to  the  public,  having  en- 
riched it  with  many  notes,  an  able  introduction,  and  a  disquisition  upon 
the  past,  present,  and  future  of  the  (iip^y  rac*'."  "Of  the  Gipsies  in 
Spain  we  have  already  learned  much  from  the  work  of  Borrow,  but  this 
Is  a  more  thorough  and  elaborate  treati.se  upon  (Sipsy  life  in  general, 
though  larjrely  devoted  to  the  tribe  as  it  appeared  in  England  and  Scot- 
land." "  Such  are  some  views  and  oj)inions  respecting  a  curious  people, 
of  whose  history  and  customs  Mr.  Simson  has  given  a  deeply  interestr 
Ing  delineation." 

Ne^v  York  STethodist. — "  The  Gipsies  present  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  anomalies  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  Though  they 
Lave  lived  among  European  nations  for  centuries,  forming  in  some  dis- 
tricts a  ])rominent  element  in  the  population,  they  have  succeeded  in 
keei)ing  themselves  separate  in  social  rehitions,  customs,  lantruajie,  and 
in  a  measure,  in  government,  and  excludinir  strangers  from  real  knowl- 
edge of  the  character  of  iheir  communities  and  organizations.  Scarcely 
more  is  known  of  them  by  the  world  in  i^eneral  than  was  know  when 
they  first  made  their  api)earance  among  civilized  nations."  "  Another 
curioue  thing  advanced  by  Mr.   Sim.son  is  that  of  the  jierpetuity  of  the 

race lie  thinks  that  it  never  dies  out,  and  that  <j'ipsies,  liowevei 

much  they  n.ay  intermarry  with  the  world's  [)eople,  and  adopt  the  hab- 
its of  civilization,  remain  (Mpsies,  preserve  the  hinj^uage.  the  ( iipsy  mode 
of  thought,  and  loyalty  to  the  race  and  its  traditions  to  remote  genera- 
Uoaa.     11  Ih  w^rk  turns,  In  lact,  upon  those  two  theories,  and  tLo  incl- 


NOTICES   OF  THE    AMERICAN    PKESS. 

dents,  facts,  and  citations  from  history  with  which  it  abounds,  are  all 
ekillt'iilly  used  in  support  of  theiu  "  "  There  are  some  facts  of  interest 
in  relation  to  the  Gipsies  in  Scotland  and  America,  which  are  broutrjit 
out  quite  fully  in  Mr.  Simson's  book,"  Avhich  "abounds  in  novel  and 
interesting  matter  .  .  .  and  will  well  repay  perusal."  "  Pertinent  anec- 
dotes, illustrating  the  habits  and  craft  of  the  Gipsies,  may  be  picked  up 
at  random  in  any  part  of  the  book." 

Netv  Yorh  Eveninff  Post. — "  The  editor  corrects  some  popular 
notions  in  regard  to  the  habits  of  the  Gipsies.  They  are  not  now,  iu 
the  main,  the  wanderers  they  used  to  be.  Through  intermarriage  with 
other  people,  and  from  other  causes,  they  have  adopted  more  stationary 
modes  of  life,  and  have  assimilated  to  the  manners  of  the  countries  in 

which  they  live As  the  editor  of  this  volume  says  :     '  They 

carry  the  language,  the  associations,  and  the  sympathies  of  their  race, 
and  their  peculiar  feelin^^s  toward  the  community  with  them  ;  and,  aa 
residents  of  towns,  have  greater  facilities,  from  others  of  their  race  re- 
eiding  near  them,  for  perpetuating  their  language,  than  when  strolling 
over  the  country.'  "  "  We  have  no  space  for  such  full  extracts  as  we 
Biiould  like  to  give." 

Netv  Yorh  Journal  of  Commerce. — "  We  have  seldom 
found  a  more  readable  book  than  Simson's  History  of  the  Gipsies.  A  large 
pert  of  the  volume  is  necessarily  devoted  to  th3  local  histories  of  fami- 
lies in  England  (Scotland),  but  these  go  to  form  part  of  one  of  the  most 
interesting  chapters  of  human  history."  "  We  commend  the  book  as 
very  readable,  and  giving  mucU  instruction  on  a  curious  subject." 

New    York  Times. — "Mr has  done  good  service   to  the 

American  public  by  reproducing  here  this  very  interesting  and  valuable 
volume."  "  The  work  is  more  interesting  than  a  romance,  and  that  it  is 
full  of  facts  is  very  easily  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  index,  which  is  very 
minute,  and  adds  greatly  to  the  value  of  the  book." 

JVc?f'  YorJc  Albion. — "  An  extremely  curious  work  is  a  History 
of  the  Gipsies."  "  The  wildest  scenes  in  '  Lavengro,'  as  for  instance  the 
fight  with  the  Flaming  Tinman,  are  comparatively  tame  beside  some 
of  the  incidents  narrated  here." 

Hours  at  Home   (now  Scribner's  ^fowYZ*??/^-—"  Years 

ago  we  read,  with  an  interest  we  shall  never  forg(!t,  Sorrow's  book  on 
the  Gipsies  of  Spain.  W'e  have  now  a  history  of  this  niysterif)us  race 
as  it  exists  in  the  British  Islands,  which,  though  written  before  Sor- 
row's, has  just  been  published.     It  is the  result  of  much  time  and 

patient  labor,  and  is  a  valuable  contribution  toward  a  complete  history 
of  this  extraordinary  people.     The  (xipsy  race  and  the  Gipsy  Innguugo 
are  subjects  of  much  interest,  socially  and  ethno]oo;ical]y."     "  lie?  esti- 
mates the  number  of  Gipsies  in  Great  Britain  at  250,000,  and  the  wliole 
number  in  Europe  and  America  at  4,000.000."     "The  work   is  what  it 
profesres  to  be,  a  veritable  historj- — a  history  in  which  Gipsy  life  has 
been  stripped  of  everything  pertaining  to  fiction,  so  that  the  reader 
will  see  depicted  in  their  true  character  this  strange  people.  ....  .And 

yet,  these  pages  of  sober  history  are  crowded  with  focts  and  incidents 
stranger  and  more  tlirilliug  than  the  wildest  imagiiuugs  of  the  roman- 
tic school." 

NEW    YORK:    JAMES    MILLER. 


NOTICES    OF   THE    BRITISH    PRESS. 


THE  ENGLISH  UNIVERSITIES  AND  JOHN  BUNYAN.  AND  THE 
ENCYCLOPEDIA  BRITANNICA  AND  THE  GIPSIES. 

"  In  this  pamphlet  Mr.  James  Simson  again  does  battle  in  support  of  his  con- 
tention that  Bunyan  was  a  Gipsy — a  thesis  first  promulgated  by  him  in  an  elabo- 
rate work  on  the  Gipsies,  published  in  1S65.  He  is  indignant  at  Mr.  Froude  for 
ignoring  the  discussion  of  the  question  in  his  recent  biography  of  Bunyan,  and  he 
comments  in  strong  terms  on  the  dicta  of  Mr.  Francis  H.  Groome,  in  the  article 
'Gipsies,'  in  the  new  edition  of  the  Encyclopcrdia  Britannica,  that  John  Bunyan 
'does  not  appear  to  have  had  one  drop  of  Gipsy  blood.'"  "Mr.  Simson's  tractate 
will  be  perused  with  deep  interest  by  all  students  of  the  customs  and  history  of  the 
Gipsies." — Edinburgh  Coutant,  November  'i,  1880. 

"  In  this  pamphlet  Mr.  James  Simson,  editor  of  Simson's  History  of  the  Gipsies, 
states  his  grounds  for  believing  that  John  Bunyan  was  a  Gipsy,  and  invokes  the 
assistance  of  the  Universities  to  investigate  the  matter  and  put  it  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  doubt.  It  may  not  matter  much  whether  or  not  the  'immortal  dreamer' 
was  a  Gipsy  ;  and  we  do  not  think  Mr.  Simson  attaches  any  great  importance  to 
the  circumstance /tv  j^.  What  he  aims  at,  we  believe,  is  to  stir  up  some  interest 
in  the  Gipsy  race,  and  this  he  thinks  may  be  done  were  the  public  to  have  their 
sympathies  awakened  by  the  fact  that  John  Bunyan  was  a  descendant  of  it.  By 
way  of  supplement,  Mr.  Simson  criticises  some  statements  made  in  an  article  in 
the  Encych'picdia  Britannica,  on  the  Gipsies.  The  curious  in  the  subject  of  Gipsy 
lore  will  doubtless  find  in  the  pamphlet  matter  that  will  interest  them." — Perthshire 
Advertiser,  October  28,  18S0. 

"  Mr.  Simson  suggests,  and  supports,  on  arguments  that  have  the  highest  bear- 
ing on  anthropological  questions,  the  theory  that  John  Bunyan  was  a  Gipsy.  The 
great  secret  that  civilised  Europe  has  even  now  amongst  it  a  few  individuals  who 
are  descended  from  a  Hindoo  race,  and  are  capable,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  they 
have  a  particularly  original  soul  of  their  own,  to  reconcile  some  of  the  difficulties 
between  the  eastern  and  the  western  schools  of  thought,  may  be  the  real  future  fact 
of  modern  anthropology.  The  difficulty  is,  of  course,  where  and  how  to  find  the 
Gipsies.  We  have  been  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Simson's  pamphlet.  It  is  not 
every  writer  who  has  treated  the  subject  in  his  philosophical  manner  ;  and  we  are 
glad  to  perceive  that  he  strongly  accents  the  fact  that  a  person  may  be  a  Gipsy 
and  yet  be  entirely  ignorant  [not  absolutely  so]  of  the  Gipsy  language.  Evidently 
Mr.  Simson  has  studied  anthropological  problems  at  first  hand,  and  apart  from  the 
speculators  who  have  regarded  language  as  the  first  key  to  the  science  of  man." — 
Public  Opinion,  October  15,  1880. 

CHARLES  WATERTON,  Naturalist. 

"  That  Mr.  Simson  had  a  duty — to  himself  as  well  as  to  the  public —  to  perform 
in  justifying  his  previous  remarks  about  Charles  Waterton,  b)'  writing  this  mono- 
graph, is  unquestionable.  Although  it  is  a  somewhat  difficult  task  unsparingly  to 
point  out  the  mistakes  and  shortcomings  of  a  man,  when  he  can  no  longer  defend 
himself,  without  seeming  to  be  guilty  of  an  ofience  against  the  old  rule — Nil  nisi 
bonuin  de  iiiortuis — Mr.  Simson  may  fairly  claim  credit  for  having  adhered  to  the 
Shakespearian  advice  in  regard  to  fault-finding  ;  for,  if  he  has  extenuated  nothing, 
he  has  set  down  naught  in  malice.  The  example  of  Charles  Waterton,  country 
gentleman  and  naturalist,  may  serve  as  a  useful  warning  to  students  of  natural 
history,  by  teaching  them  that  only  the  most  patient  investigation  and  careful  reflec- 
tion can  produce  results  that  will  be  of  real  and  permanent  value  to  science.  Thej' 
have  here  the  example  of  a  man  who  had  most  excellent  opportunities  for  such  in- 
vestigations, as  well  as  the  strongest  taste  for  their  pursuit,  and  who,  by  an  exact 
and  sjstemaiic  method  of  study,  might  have  made  most  important  additions  to  our 
knowledge  of  natural  history.  But  by  inaccurate  observation,  by  a  certain  loose- 
ness of  statement,  and  by  taking  things  for  granted  instead  of  personally  verifying 
them,  he  has  greatly  diminished  the  value  of  his  labours.  Mr.  Simson,  though 
his  task  is  to  set  right  the  unduly  high  estimate  in  which  the  squire  of  Walton  Hall 
has  been  held  as  a  man  of  science,  shows  an  appreciation  ot  the  strong  points  of 
his  character  that  completely  takes  away  any  appearance  of  censoriousness  ;  and 
his  work  incidentally  aflfords  an  interesting  study  of  the  man  himself,  who,  in  his 
persona!  life  and  his  enthusiastic  devotion  to  natural  history,  showed  a  strong 
individuality  that  is  quite  refreshing  in  this  age  of  conventionalities." — Aberdeen 
jfournal,  August  30,  i38o. 


AMERICAN    EDITION    OF    1878,    WITH    APPENDIX. 


210  Pages,  Octavo,  Cloth.     Price,  $1.25. 

CONTIUBUTIONS  TO  NATURAL  IIISTOllY, 

AND    PAPERS    ON    OTHER    SUBJECTS. 
BY   JAMES    SIMSON, 


NOTICES  OF   THE  BRITISH  PRESS. 

Dublin  University  Magazine,  July,  1875. 

"The  principal  articles  in  this  volume  that  have  reference  to  natural  history 
originally  appeared  in  Land  and  Water,  and  are,  in  many  respects,  highly  interest- 
ing. Concerning  vipers  and  snakes,  we  are  presented  with  a  good  deal  of  informa- 
tion that  is  instructive,  not  only  as  regards  their  habits  generally,  but  also  with  re- 
spect to  points  that  are  in  dispute  among  naturalists."  "  Foi  instance,  it  is  a  vexed 
question  whether,  under  any  circumstances,  the  young  retreat  into  the  stomach 
[inside]  of  the  mother  snake.  A  great  authority,  [?]  Mr.  Frank  Buckland,  afhrms 
that  they  do  not  ;  while  our  author  is  as  positive  that  they  do.  And  he  certainly, 
with  reason,  contends  that  the  question  is  entirely  one  of  evidence,  and,  therefore, 
should  be  settled  '  as  a  fact  is  proved  in  a  court  of  justice  ;  difficulties,  suppositions, 

or  theories  not  being  allowed  to  form  part  of  the  testimony. In  support  of  his 

own  views,  Mr.  Simson  has  collected  a  large  body  of  evidence  that  undoubtedly 
appears  authentic  and  conclusive."  "Of  the  miscellaneous  papers  in  this  volume, 
the  best  is  a  critical  study  of  the  late  John  Stuart  Mill.  Taken  altogether,  the 
volume  is  very  entertaining,  and  affords  pleasing  and  instructive  reading." 

Evening  Standard,  June  8,  1875. 

"It  is  with  real  pleasure  we  see  these  Contributions  to  Land  and  IVaferno 
longer  limited  to  the  columns  of  a  newspaper,  whatever  may  be  its  circulation. 
For  the  excellence  and  charm  of  these  papers  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  vol- 
ume before  us,  which  cannot  fail  to  interest  and  instruct  its  readers.  Their  variety 
and  range  may  be  gathered  from  the  subjects  treated  : — Snakes,  Vipers,  Erglish 
Snakes,  Waterton  as  a  Naturalist,  John  Stuart  Mill,  History  of  the  Gipsies,  and 
the  Duke  of  Argyll  on  the  Preservation  of  the  Jews." 

London  Courier,  June,  1875. 

"The  Natural  History  Contributions,  which  are  very  interesting,  though  par- 
taking largely  of  a  controversial  nature,  deal  chiefly  with  questions  affecting  snakes 
and  vipers.  Of  the  other  Contributions,  the  most  attractive  and  readable  is  the 
one  which  contests  some  of  Mr.  Sorrow's  conclusions  in  his  well-known  account  of 
the  Gipsies.  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill  forms  the  subject  of  a  slashing  dissertation, 
which  is  not  likely  to  find  much  favour  with  the  friends  of  the  departed  philosopher." 

Rochdale  Observer,  June  19,  1875. 

"  The  study  of  natural  history  has  a  peculiar  charm  tor  most  people,  but  for 
Lancashire  folk  it  seems  to  have  a  special  interest.  Perhaps  the  most  striking 
feature  of  the  book  at  the  head  of  this  notice  is  the  variety  of  topics  touched  upon  • 


NOTICES  OF   THE  BRITISH  PRESS. 

topics  which,  although  apparently  incompatible  and  incongruous,  are,  nevertheless, 
both  curious  and  interesting.  The  author  certainly  brings  a  large  amount  of  special 
knowledge  to  the  discussion  of  the  questions  he  introduces,  and  the  essays  are  un- 
doubtedly well  written.  Our  readers  will  see  that  the  work  is  full  of  controversial 
matter,  embracing  natural  history,  theology,  and  biography,  and  consequently  will 
suit  the  taste  of  those  who  like  to  enter  into  discussions  which  excite  the  feelings, 
and  in  which  abundance  of  energy  and  ability  is  displayed.  The  book  is  certainly 
ably  written,  and  the  author  shows  himself  to  be  a  man  of  large  accomplishments." 

Liverpool  Albion,  June  i8,  1875. 

"  The  articles  are  written  in  a  very  readable  manner,  and  will  be  found  inter- 
esting even  by  those  who  have  no  special  knowledge  of  natural  history  or  interest 
in  it.  The  Gipsies  are  competitors  with  the  snakes  for  Mr.  Simson's  regards,  and 
several  papers  are  devoted  to  these  mysterious  nomadic  tribes.  Perhaps  the  most 
curious  paper  in  the  volume  is  written  to  prove  that  John  Hunyan  was  a  Gipsy,  and 
a  very  fair  case  is  certainly  made  out,  principally  from  Bunyan's  own  autobiographi- 
cal statements.  With  the  exception  of  the  papers  on  John  Stuart  Mill,  to  which  we 
have  already  alluded,  and  which  are  far  worse  than  worthless,  the  book  is  one 
which  we  can  recommend." 

Newcastle  Courant,  June  11,  1875. 

"  The  bulk  of  these  Contributions  appeared  in  Land  and  Water.  We  think  the 
author  has  done  well  to  give  them  to  the  public  in  the  more  enduring  formr^f  a  well 
got  up  volume.  The  book  contains,  also,  a  critical  sketch  of  the  career  of  John 
Stuart  Mill  ;  some  gossip  about  Gipsies  ;  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll's  notions  about 
the  preservation  of  the  Jews.     Altogether,  the  book  is  very  readable." 

Northern  Whig,  June  17,  1875. 

"This  volume  consists  of  Contributions  to  Land  and  ?F«/^r by  a  writer  well- 
known  as  the  author  [editor]  of  a  standard  book  on  the  Gipsies,  and  is  evidently 
the  production  of  a  clear,  intelligent,  and  most  observant  mind.  Mr.  Simson  adds 
a  number  of  miscellaneous  papers,  including  a  masterly,  though  severe,  criticism 
of  John  Stuart  Mill — '  his  religion,  his  education,  a  crisis  in  his  history,  his  wife, 
Mill  and  son,' — as  well  as  severaj  desultory  papers  on  the  Gipsies,  elicited,  ^'jr  the 
most  part,  by  criticisms  on  his  work  on  that  singular  race." 

Western  Times,  June  29,  1875. 

"  The  preface  to  this  volume  is  dated  from  New  York,  and  the  contents  bear 
marks  of  the  free,  racy  style  of  transatlantic  writers.  The  volume  closes  with  a 
paper  on  the  '  Preservation  of  the  Jews.'  The  writer  deals  with  his  several  sub- 
jects with  marked  ability,  and  his  essays  form  a  volume  which  will  pay  for  reading, 
and  therefore  pay  for  purchasing." 

Daily  Review,  June  11,  1875. 

"  We  need  only  mention  the  other  subjects — Waterton  as  a  Naturalist,  Roman- 
ism, John  Stuart  Mill,  Simson's  History  of  the  Gipsies,  Borrow  on  the  Gipsies,  the 
Scottish  Churches  and  the  Gipsies,  Was  John  Bunyan  a  Gipsy?  and,  of  course,  the 
literary  ubiquitous  Duke  of  Argyll  on  the  Preservation  of  the  Jews.  The  only  pa- 
per we  have  not  ventured  to  look  at  is  the  last,  in  the  dread  that  on  this  question 
the  versatile  Duke  might  be  found,  as  in  the  matter  of  the  Scottish  Church,  verify- 
ing the  French  proverb — //  va  clie7-cher  midl  a  qualorze  heures — a  work  in  which  the 
author  of  this  volume  is  an  adept,  in  quiet,  quaint,  and  clever  ways,  however, 
which  make  it  interesting." 

NEW   YORK:    JAMES   MILLER. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGb; 
VIPERS  AND  SNAKES  GENERALLY, 7 

WHITE  OF  SELBORNE  ON  THE  VIPER, 10 

WHITE  OF  SELBORNE  ON  SNAKES, 17 

SNAKES  SWALLOWING  THEIR  YOUNG, 23 

SNAKES  SWALLOWING  THEIR  YOUNG, 25 

SNAKES  CHARMING  BIRDS, 30 

Mr.  FRANK  BUCKLAND  ON  ENGLISH  SNAKES,      ....    31 

Mr.  GOSSE  on  THE  JAMAICA  BOA  SWALLOWING  HER  YOUNG,  .    33 

AMERICAN  SNAKES,  36 

AMERICAN  SCIENCE  CONVENTION  ON  SNAKES,  ...    36 

CHARLES  WATERTON  AS  A  NATURALIST 39 

ROMANISM 49 

JOHN  STUART  MILL :  A  STUDY. 

HIS  RELIGION, 69 

HIS  EDUCATION, 82 

«                      *'        A  CRISIS  IN  HIS  HISTORY,         ...    90 
HIS  WIFE,  97 

"  "        MILL  AND  SON 105 

SIMSON'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  GIPSIES, in 

Mr.  BORROW  ON  THE  GIPSIES,  112 

THE  SCOTTISH  CHURCHES  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EMANCIPATION 

OF  THE  GIPSIES, 150 

WAS  JOHN  BUNYAN  A  GIPSY? 157 

THE    DUKE    OF    ARGYLL    ON   THE   PRESERVATION   OF   THE 

JEWS, 161 

INDEX,       ....     * .      171 

APPENDIX. 

I.  JOHN  BUNYAN  AND  THE  GIPSIES,  183 

11.  Mr.  FRANK  BUCKLAND  AND  WHITE  OF  SELBORNE,    .      187 

in.  Mr.  frank  BUCKLAND  ON  THE  VIPER 192 

IV.  THE  ENDOWMENT  OF  RESEARCH 199 


Dx 


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Series 


9482 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

AA      000  266  504 


